Throw-Back Thursday
by ARTiculate3267
Summary: On Thursday, Sakura died taking a hit for Naruto from Sasuke. And on that day, she woke up sleeping, during class, in her 12 year old body. Talk about a Throw-back Thursday. Will she change their futures for better or for worse? Will she fall in love with Sasuke all over again? Time travel & SasuSaku eventually. (Temporary hiatus, will be continued soon).
1. Prologue

**Hey guys! This is my story that I posted on Wattpad that I had been telling you about! I thought I'd post a copy of it here. Here's the preview!**

**If you notice any changes from this version than in the other from Wattpad, that's because I edited it as I pasted it here.**

_**BY THE WAY! THE COVER IS THE WATTPAD VERSION OF THROW-BACK THURSDAY!**_

* * *

**Prologue: **

**In Death Do We Part**

* * *

_**Sakura's POV.**_

I knew what I said to Sasuke was true, but I couldn't help but feel doubt that he would listen. I was right.

"You really are..." He paused and turned to me and smirked. "Damned annoying."

That was when he flash-stepped in front of me, and stuck a hand into my chest, casting me into a strong genjutsu. The last thing I heard before I collapsed on the ground was Naruto's voice screaming something incoherent. Then everything was black.

* * *

_**In Sakura's Genjutsu...**_

A second later, I found myself standing in the middle of a black void. I looked around for anything but it was just black and empty. Then the black scenery started to blur and change and I found myself back in Konoha. The Konoha before it been destroyed. My eyes widened in surprise but the scene changed again and I found myself standing at the front of the Academy. My brow furrowed in confusion and I frowned. Why am I here?

Suddenly, someone burst through the doors, making me jump.  
A little girl ran past me in blur of pink and red and giggled. Wait, pink and red?

My eyes trailed after my younger self.

_How naïve we were as children,_ Inner said. I had to agree with her. I was reminded of how useless and selfish I was when I was younger. I hated myself for it.

I grimaced.

Then the scene changed, blurring until it formed into a totally different setting. This time, I was at the spot where I had ate my lunch the day I graduated from the Academy. My grimace deepened slightly. Why am I even here?

Then a 12 year-old me and 12 year-old Sasuke formed in the exact same spots we were in before. I watched my younger self make a fool out of herself and talk all "high and mighty", making insults about Naruto. I started to hate myself even more.

Regretting it.

I watched as Sasuke walked away after talking back to me and calling me annoying.  
Something tugged at my heart. A tight feeling in my chest.

The seen changed and formed into a large misty bridge. The place where we had our first A-ranked mission together. The Great Naruto Bridge.

I watched as Sasuke threw himself in front of Naruto to protect him, sacrificing himself, and Naruto, unleashing the Kyuubi chakra, fought valiantly against Haku while Kakashi against Zabuza. All the while my younger self, being the useless little civilian-born girl she was, stood in front of Tazuna, the master bridge builder, doing nothing but watch.

Something warm and wet slid down my face. I was crying.

The scene changed another time and I was surrounded by dark overgrowth and...a giant snake.

My eyes widened as I realized where I was. I was in the middle of the Chunnin exams in the Forest of Death. In the middle of me and Sasuke's first encounter with Orochimaru.

My body started to tremble as tears continued to run down my face.  
I watched as Sasuke stabbed himself in the thigh and carry me away to hide and continued to dodge as far as we can away from Orochimaru.

The tears came faster and soon I was sobbing while I watched, the tight feeling and the regret growing larger and larger in my chest until it was almost intolerable.  
I gritted my teeth, not to hold the tears back but in anger.

_It's all his fault_, I thought as I glared through my tears at Orochimaru. All I wanted to do was kill him right on the spot, but it would be pointless. This was only a genjutsu.

I continued to cry, silently watching the scene play out to the part where Naruto came to the part wear Sasuke was bitten and given the curse mark.

_Damn it_, I thought. If only I had been stronger, he probably wouldn't have left or maybe even bitten.

I watched, tears having finally stopped, as my younger self carry unconscious Sasuke and unconscious Naruto and I was about to follow them but I couldn't move my legs. I couldn't move from my spot. Literally.

The scene changed again and this time I was watching the battle between me and Lee and the Sound ninja sent from Orochimaru. My younger self cut her hair and was getting beaten up by Zaku.

_Why couldn't I be stronger?_ I clenched my teeth. I watched regrettably as Sasuke woke and almost killed Zaku as my younger self ran up and hugged him from behind, pleading him to stop.

I sweat dropped while I still can't believe that I did that. It was such a weak move. I'm so useless.

The scene changed again and this time, I was back in the park, at night, standing under a tree with the perfect view of the most painful moment of my life.

My first confession to Sasuke.

I started to tear up again as I talked to Sasuke, crying.

_Kuso!_

I brought a hand up to wipe the tears from my eyes. _I'm so stupid!_  
My younger self was yelling at him now and my tears kept running, making me hiccup and sob.

He said 'thank you' before he knocked me out and laid my younger self on the bench, leaving Konoha forever.

_Stupid Sasuke_, I thought as I wiped my tears with the back of my hand again, although it didn't do much to stop _Why? Why did you have to leave us? You could have got stronger here at home, but you chose to get revenge in the darkness. You're so stupid! Sasuke-baka!_

The scene changed once again and this time, I stood in midair with a perfect view of the Valley of the End, where Naruto battled Sasuke to come home.

I was still crying.

I watched the whole fight and even heard their conversations between them.  
When it finished, Naruto was laying unconscious on the ground with Sasuke kneeling over him in the rain. His head band had came off during the explosion. He got up, cradled his broken arm in his hand and limped away.

I was crying silently throughout the whole fight. When I tried to move this time, I was able to make my way to the genjutsu-Naruto and kneeled down next to him. I smiled sadly through my tears, and the smile reached my eyes.

_Thank you,_ I thought to him. _If you were real, I wish I could have thanked you for everything._

Just as I stood up, the scene blurred back into black.

_Oh good it's finally over...What the hell is this?_

I gaped at the scene with complete confusion. I was surrounded by me's. There was 6 year old me, 8 year old me, 12 year old me, 16 year old me, and even another 17 year old me.

They stood around me, making a circle, but their faces showed anger, sadness, fear, frustration? All at once as they stared at me, as if looking into my soul.

"Why?" They chorused. They clenched their fist and gritted their teeth in "Why am I so weak? Why can't I be strong like Naruto and Sasuke? Why?"

At some point during their rant, they all started to cry and I only watched in horror.  
They were crying tears of blood.

"Stop," I yelled at them. I knew what they were trying to do. They were the darkness in my heart and they were trying to take me, convince me that I need the darkness. And it was working."Stop it!"

"It's all my fault," They screamed together. "It's all my fault!"

The darkness around us thundered and rumbled. Then it started to crack and I could see the white showing through the cracks. Everything looked like glass about to shatter.

"It is my fault," I said aloud as I looked at the ground in shame. My hair fell over my face like a curtain, hiding my face. Everything else, even the other Sakura's, seem to disappear. I became lost in my thoughts.

_Everything was my fault. If I wasn't so weak, I could have protected Sasuke. Maybe even prevented Orochimaru from giving him the curse mark. If I wasn't so weak, I could have been of some use during the attack on Konoha and help Naruto. I could have maybe been able to get a scratch on Sasuke when I tried to kill him._

_I am weak. I am useless. I'm a crybaby. I'm-_

"Shut up! You're not weak!" My thoughts were interrupted and I looked up to Inner yelling at me.

She was usually in my head in black and white colors, but she was literally standing outside of my mind, in front of me and in the genjutsu. In my mind, I had pictured her to look exactly like me, but now that she was standing in front of me, she didn't look exactly like me. We had the same hair, face, body, we were even wearing the same clothes. The only difference between us were her eyes. They weren't light green, jade, like mine. They were sunlight yellow, practically shining sparkly pale gold.

I stared at her shocked for a while and noticed that the other Sakura's had diappeared but the shattered black sky was frozen in mid cracking.

She raised am eyebrow questionably at "What?" Then she looked down at herself, back up to check where she was, and then back at me. Her face turned from confused to shock.

"Oh. Well this is new...and awkward." Then Inner recovered from the shock and put a hand on her waist and pointed a finger at "And you are NOT weak! What do you think we've been doing for the past three years?"

I stayed silent although I continued to look at her.

"Training," She continued. "We've been training our asses off and with the Fifth Hokage no less. We've become medical ninja and if it wasn't for you, Kankuro would be dead a long time ago. We aren't weak. We are strong. If we weren't, we wouldn't be the Fifth Hokage's apprentice, would we?"

My expression turned from dark to determined and I nodded at her.

"Now," She "Genjutsu is supposed to be one of your specialties. So stop being a wuss and break out of this hell hole!"

I nodded to her again and started to concentrate. I made the seal of the Tiger, concentrating chakra and calming myself.

"Kai!" I yelled. It didn't work.

I tried again and again and once more. Now I was starting to loose hope. The genjutsu was just too strong for me.

"Don't give up!" Inner yelled at me again. "We're not even in Sasuke-Bastard's Sharingan genjutsu! This should be nothing! If you don't get it in the first try, don't give up! If you don't get it the next few times, you still don't give up! Don't give up until you're last breath!"

Inner had grown to despise Sasuke after he had left a few years ago and it seemed that Naruto had grown on her.

My determined expression hardened and became fiercer. I continued to try and Inner continued to encourage me.

"Kai." I had to keep going. I had to get out of this genjutsu. I need to help Naruto. I...

Don't care about Sasuke.

"Kai!" _Sasuke_, I thought. _I..._

"KAI!" I didn't feel the same warm and sad feeling I usually did when I thought about him. I realized how I felt about Sasuke and my eyes widened for a moment then narrowed at nothing in anger.

_Sasuke_, I thought. _I hate you._

"KAI!"

"Never give up until your last breath! Don't give in until you die! That is my ninja way!"

I sweat dropped at her but smiled. "I think Naruto's rubbing off on you."

She shrugged. "You make it sound like it's a bad thing." She smirked.

I smiled back and shook my head. Then I tried one more time.

_Sasuke_, I thought. _Never will I love you again._

"KAI!"

The blackness started to fade as did Inner. She smiled at me and saluted me with two fingers. Then it all disappeared.

* * *

_**Out of the genjutsu...**_

I opened my eyes and blinked before looking around. I was laid on the ground less than 3 feet away from Madara's body and Kakashi and the Sage of Six Paths were standing not very far, their backs turned to me.

I have to get to Naruto, I thought. emThey'll probably be at the Valley of the End for their final battle.

I quietly brought myself up to a sitting position and looked around again. We were still in the same spot.

Kakashi and the Sage were talking about something serious but didn't seem to notice me.

_Good_, I thought. The Sage of Six Paths probably knows I'm awake though.

But the Sage made no sign that he had noticed me and continued to talk with Kakashi.

I quietly but quickly stood up and turned towards the direction of the Valley of the End and started at a walk but I was stopped by someone grabbing my wrist.

I looked back to see Kakashi, his face a mix of both surprised and seriousness.

"What are you doing?" He asked. "How did you break out of the genjutsu?"

I raised an eyebrow in confusion."What do you mean 'how'?"

He let go of my wrist."Even I couldn't break the genjutsu. So how did you?"

"Like how you normally break a genjutsu. Now I must find Naruto." I said before I turned to run but he stopped me again.

"No. Naruto and Sasuke have to settle this on their own. You just have to put faith in them." He said.

_'You mean I'll just get in their way'_ was what I wanted to say but instead I substituted it with ...

"I do have faith, "I said."In Naruto. "

Kakashi gave me look as if he expected something else and I continued.

"I have complete faith in Naruto but if something happens to him, I will never forgive myself."

And I ran to the Valley of End, towards the Final Battle.

_**Kakashi's POV.**_

I was surprised that she dissed Sasuke just like that. I had thought she was truly a kind girl.

_How was she able to break out of the genjutsu? And what did she see?_ I thought. I turned to look back at the Sage of Six Paths.

He nodded to me."Go and follow her. You may want to watch your team."

I nodded back to him and ran after her.

_Sakura_, I thought. _What did you see that made you change your feelings?_

_**NO POV.**_

The Sage stared after Kakashi, who ran at full speed in the same direction as Sakura although he wasn't able to catch up to her.

_That girl_, He thought. _Something in her eyes had changed._

He knew that she had woke up earlier and had attempted to leave them undetected but he made no sign that he'd noticed her awakening. He had noticed when she turned to look at them, her face had change. Not physically but it did.

Something in her eyes had told him that...he really wasn't sure what but he felt like she had wanted to do something and it seemed to him that she wanted to change.

_My dear girl,_ He thought. _What do you desire now?_

* * *

_**At the Valley of the End...To Naruto and Sasuke's Final Battle...**_

"SASUKE!"

"NARUTO!"

The two friends clashed again and the ground trembled with each hit.

Naruto would win, he had to. No matter what he would bring Sasuke back. That's was the only thing in his mind. Their memories together as Team 7, their adventures, their embonds/em they created together. He wouldn't let Sasuke sever them just like that. Not without a fight.

They had been battling for so long, both of them were both panting heavily and they knew they were almost out of chakra. They only had enough for the final blow.  
Naruto had drained most of Kurama's chakra and had to stop using Kyuubi mode and Sage mode. Sasuke had to stop using his Mangekyo Sharingan and Susanno and had to revert back to his regular Sharingan.

They were tied but that wasn't going to stop them. Nothing would stop them.  
They stood several yards away from each other, on the stone ground near the water fall.

"Naruto," Sasuke said."It's time to end this."

Naruto nodded at him and they started weaving hand signs. Electricity sparked and chirped in Sasuke's hand as wind started to swirl and spin in a sphere in Naruto's.  
They ran towards each other, not even noticing the nearing presence of their pink haired teammate or their sensei.

"SASUKE!" Naruto yelled.

"NARUTO!" Sasuke screamed back.

They were so close, only few feet away, minus their arms' length. Then in a flash of pink, Naruto and Sasuke's view of each other were blocked. Except all they could see was red and all time seemed to have froze.

The sky started to turn gray with rain clouds as it was moving in.

Kakashi arrived in time to see his only female student run in front of Naruto with her arms spread out on either side of her to block their attacks at each other, facing Sasuke, only to have their attacks hit her instead.

Kakashi, Naruto and even Sasuke's eyes widened as they realized what just happened.

Naruto's Rasengan had hit her mid back but Sasuke's Chidori had cut into her chest, right through her heart.

Sakura coughed up blood and it landed on Sasuke's face. His face was still shocked as he flinched and quickly pulled his hand out of her chest, his hand drenched in her blood.

The sudden movement made Sakura cough and blood dripped from the corners of her mouth. She started to fall forward and Sasuke reached out to catch her but Naruto, his face turned from shocked to worried, got to her first and set her down gently on the ground.

Kakashi was at her side in a flash. "Sakura!"

Sasuke stared at the scene in shock as Sakura tried to sit up but Naruto gripped her shoulders firmly and gently laid her back down. Naruto's face was a mixture of worry, panic, anger, and fear.

Sakura struggled to say something but her blood was welling in her throat and she coughed again, blood staining her clothes and dripping from her lips. All they heard was the gurgling of her blood in her throat.

Naruto brushed her bangs gently from her face."Sakura-chan, don't talk." He smiled sadly and his eyes started to feel wet.

"Save your energy. We'll get Granny Tsunade right now to heal you and..." He had started crying and sobbing as he looked down at her. He was unable to finish his sentence because he had started to hiccup.

"Na...ruto," She said through the blood, and she turned her head away to spit the blood out, but it continued to well up in her throat.

"S-Sakura-chan! Please stop! Don't talk!" He turned to look up at Kakashi, who had been sitting in the otherside of Sakura, watching the scene with sad eyes. Naruto's eyes were wide with panic and worry."Go and get Granny Tsunade!"

Kakashi didn't move but just stare at him sadly. "Naruto," He said calmly."Lady Tsunade was taken into one of the cocoons and is in a genjutsu."

Naruto yelled at him, hugging Sakura to his chest as the tears continued to run."Then break the genjutsu! We need her to heal Sakura-chan right now!"

Kakashi shook his head at him. "None of us can break the genjutsu, Naruto. Only Sasuke can."

Sakura's breathing became ragged and she coughed up blood again. Naruto turned to look at Sasuke, who had stood back watching Sakura with shock.

"Sasuke! Hurry and get Granny Tsunade!" Naruto yelled and his voice cracked.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, his shocked expression unchanged, but he didn't move.

"Sasuke, don't you understand!? Sakura needs help! If you don't get Granny Tsunade, she could...she could..." Naruto stuttered, not wanting to finish. Then he felt a cold hand on his cheek and they all looked down at Sakura.

"Naruto...It's," She managed to say before she started to have a coughing fit. Suddenly Sasuke was at her side, next to Naruto. His face turned from shocked to worry and fear.

Then his eyes became hooded and hid under his bangs. "Why? Why would you do this?" He said through gritted teeth.

Sakura turned away to spit out the blood that continued to well up in her throat and turned back to Sasuke. If she was the old Sakura, the one that had confessed her undying love to him and was emotional about almost everything, she would probably be crying by now and would have answered with 'Because I love you'. Instead, her face was hard and serious, but at the same time soft and kind.

"Because," She said and gave a small humorless smile."I don't want to see Naruto on the ground half dead." She managed to say without choking on her own blood. Her eyes were slowly becoming unfocused and she could see a bright light growing in her vision.

Sasuke stared at her shocked at what she had said. Naruto's gaze swiveled between the two with shock.

She turned back to Naruto and his gaze stopped at her."Naruto, it's ok," She said and this time genuinely smiled at him."We all know that I'm not going to-" Her body gave a jerk and she coughed up more blood."-Make it."

Her eyes were starting to loose its shine and Sakura's breathing was becoming slow and steady."Naruto, before I leave everyone, tell Master Tsunade, when you save her, that I finally understand." She said, her voice became hoarse. "And tell her it's not a bad thing."

Naruto looked at her confused and worried, his brow furrowed."What do you mean 'understand'?"

Sakura shook her head at him. "Just tell her." She rasped.

Sakura's eyelids felt like they weighed a ton and she struggled to keep them open. Her vision was starting to become blurry and the white light was growing brighter.

"Sakura-chan! I still don't understand! Why would you do this!?" He said worriedly.

Sakura smiled again. "I told you. Because I don't want to see you half dead. Naruto," She said and started having another fit. After she was done, she motioned for him to get closer and...

She kissed him on the cheek. Shocked, he pulled away and blushed. Blood stained his cheek.

She wasn't able to keep her eyelids open any longer and they started to droop. Her vision was so blurry and the light so blinding that she could barely see Naruto's figure.

"The next time I see you, you've better become Hokage by then." She managed to say without coughing blood. Her voice was crystal clear and stern, not hoarse or raspy.

Naruto was taken aback by her statement and he blinked in surprise./p

_Hokage?_ He thought incredilously. How could she think of him becoming Hokage when she was dying?

Then he thought of it as one of Sakura's dying will and his shocked expression turned to determination. He nodded at her.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Thank you." She said to no one in particular as she looked up at the now raining sky. The light in her vision was flaring by now.

She took one last look at Naruto one last time before she past. And she could've sworn that she saw 12 year old Naruto with a concerned expression on his face.

_I wish things could've been different_, Was her last thought and her eyelids drooped lower.

Her eyelids fluttered closed and she died, a ghost of a genuine smile on her now peaceful face.

What she didn't know was that someone they didn't know wished exactly for the same thing, and decided to change. Everything.

* * *

**Hi! This is my first chapter, and I'm sorry if it's bad! I hope you liked it. Sorta angsty and sad but it will get better. In case you hadn't noticed, this took place around chapter 690 or 680 something.**

**This is not over! I repeat!**

**Not. Over.**

**Oh, this is far from over!**

**I'll get to SasuSaku eventually.**

**CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE STORY ON MY WATTPAD.**

**My name's in my profile.**

**THANKS!**


	2. Chapter 1

** DO NOT OWN NARUTO...*CRIES* T_T'**

* * *

**Chapter 1: **

**From the End to the Beginning - **

**A Chance to Change Your Future**

* * *

_**Sakura's POV.**_

"Haruno...Haruno...HARUNO!"

I woke up with a start and looked around frantically, unaware of what was happening. My hair was a mess and there was dry drool on my chin.

I focused my gaze on Iruka-sensei, who was standing in front of my desk in the back of the classroom.

"Huh? Oh hey, Iruka-sensei. What do you want?" I said tiredly. I was unaware of what was happening.

He shook his head and sighed. "Just pay attention." He walked back to the front of the classroom and stood behind the podium.

"As I was saying, tomorrow I will be announcing the teams and you will be meeting with your new squad leaders. From then-" I tuned myself out and looked out the window that I sat by.

_Hm. This reminds me of the day before Team 7 was formed, _I thought, still unaware of what was happening.

I smiled at the memory.

Minutes later the bell rang for lunch, and we all got up to leave the classroom.

I walked outside, my face blank and walked away from the kids and into the forest that surrounded the back of the school.

_This is just a dream, _I thought. _A memory before I pass into the afterlife._

At least, that's what I thought.

* * *

_**NO POV.**_

Sakura walked deeper and deeper into the woods and sat down under the shade of a tree. She sighed with bliss.

She waited for a few minutes, treasuring the peaceful silence of the "afterlife". There was no war. No Ten Tails. No destruction.

It was just peace.

This was just a glimpse of a good memory before everything fell apart. That's what she thought. The afterlife was just showing her a happy, peaceful moment before she was sent to...wherever she was supposed to go in the afterlife.

_A nice trip down memory lane and all but I like to go to...wherever I was supposed to go when I died,_ She thought.

She was startled because she hadn't expected an anwser. Her eyes widened from surprise.

_Sorry, but you can't, _A voice answered. It sounded like a girl.

Sakura stood up abruptly and turned her head to look behind her but saw no one. She furrowed her brow, her guard up.

"Who are you?" She said aloud."Show yourself!"

Nothing moved and the Voice spoke again.

_I'm speaking from inside your mind, _The Voice said. _No one but you can hear me...unless I want them to._

Out of habit, Sakura crouched down and moved a hand to her thigh to grab a kunai but she felt an empty holster. She looked down at her thigh and was surprised to see no weapons on her at all.

She looked up, her brow furrowed in rage. _Where are my weapons?_

The Voice ignored her question.

Realizing that the Voice wasn't going to talk about anything else, Sakura straightened up and composed herself, her expression serious and hard. She was scowling.

_Who are you and what do you want? _She said to the Voice in her mind.

_Who I am doesn't matter, and it's not what I want. It's more like what we want, _She answered.

Sakura raised an eyebrow in annoyance. _What are you talking about? Just send me to wherever I was supposed to go in the afterlife, _She said to the Voice.

_This isn't the afterlife, _The Voice said, straightforward. _You are living again._

Sakura's eyes widened in disbelief for a second but was replaced by sarcasm and she scoffed.

_Ha ha, _She said to the Voice, humorless. _Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah sure I'm alive, _She said to the Voice sarcastically.

_I'm not joking around, _The Voice said in her mind, her tone serious. _You are alive and back in the past._

Sakura rolled her eyes, now annoyed. _Yeah and I'm from the future, right? _She said to the Voice, sarcastically.

_Yes. I'm serious, Sakura. I brought you back to life and put you back in the past. _The Voice said.

_No, I died. _She said to the Voice, now serious. _I'm just reliving a memory before I'm sent into the afterlife._

Sakura could have sworn she heard the Voice sigh. _I'll prove to you that I brought you back to life, _The Voice said, irritatedly. _You can't feel pain when you're dead._

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain on her arm and she hissed in pain, grasping a spot on her left shoulder. She took her hand away from her shoulder and looked at her hand.

There was blood.

Sakura's eyes widened and she looked down at her shoulder, shocked. There was a slight cut, not too deep but enough to get blood dripping from the wound.

_No, _She thought. She couldn't be alive.

_I know I died,_ She yelled at the Voice. _No one can survive getting their heart ripped out!_

_Well you did, _The Voice said. Sakura could practically see her smirking in her mind. _Because I made it happen._

_No, _She thought. This couldn't be happening. She knew she died. There was no way she could have survived.

_But you did, _The Voice said. _And there's a reason why I brought you back to life and put you in the past._

Sakura gritted her teeth in anger and was about to mentally flick off the Voice when she caught something move from the corner of her eyes. Then she heard a noise and the sound of russelling leaves close by. She slowly backed away from the noise.

Something walked out from behind a bush near her and she instinctively pulled back a fist and threw it. She felt something unexpectingly warm wrap around her fist and she looked up at it in surprise. Her eyes widened and she silently gasped.

_What type of sick joke is this? _She thought.

Sakura could hear the smirk in the Voice again as she spoke. _I told you, _She said. _You're living in the past._

Standing in front of her was none other than the man that broke her heart, tried to kill her, and caused her death.

12 year old Sasuke Uchiha, stood in front of her, grasping her fist in his surprisingly warm hand and his face as stoic as ever.

It was silent as Sakura stood frozen to the spot and continued to stare at Sasuke in shock. She didn't even notice that her equipment had appeared back on her a while ago. He stared back as he slowly pushed her fist away from his face to her, still holding her hand. He was wearing his forehead protecter, and it looked unnatural to see it there again.

"Oi," He said. "Watch it. You almost hit me."

Sakura blinked and realized that she'd been staring. Her disbelief immediately turned into anger. Anger for betraying not just her, but Naruto and a whole bunch of other people that cared about him. Anger for trying to destroy their home. Anger for trying to kill her master and the other Kage.

She clenched her teeth and forcefully pulled her hand from his grasp. She glared at him, which could be on par of Sasuke's. Maybe even better and scarier.

Sasuke didn't show it but he blinked, surprised. He was actually surprised that Sakura was glaring at him so coldly, harshly. As if he'd done something wrong to her. She's a fangirl. Or she was.

If only he knew.

"Don't touch me," Sakura hissed at him before walking back towards the Academy. Her hands clenched into fists and she gritted her teeth together to stop the tears that had almost spilled in front of him, the cut on her shoulder forgotten. Its blood dripped down her arm.

_That bastard, _She thought. _He's got balls to talk to me like that after what he's done._

He watched her leave with little interest and she could feel his stare practically burning into the back of her head.

She walked faster to the Academy and minutes later the bell rang for class.

* * *

_**In the class...**_

Sakura didn't participate or talk at all during the rest of the school day.

Many kids in the class noticed this. Even kids she didn't know noticed her unusal silence.

During class, she had sat in her seat in the back of the class, head in her hand as she leaned on it and stared blankly out the window.

It actually bothered some of them, especially some _certain_ future gennin, even if it was free time since they graduated.

To them, it was unnatural to see the normally overconfident and bubbly pink haired girl to act so...distant and cold.

So Sasuke.

This did not go unnoticed by Shikamaru. He even noticed the unusual new cut on her shoulder that'd been bandaged by the school nurse before she got into class. He noticed how deep in thought Sakura had been after she had suddenly fallen asleep during class. That too was unusual for the pink haired girl, considering she was very intelligent and paid a lot of attention during class. Even if it was unimportant. She was practically almost as smart as him. If she had never been a fangirl, she'd probaby have a higher IQ closer to his, maybe even higher.

He had pondered for a while if something had happened that might have changed her mood and personality so suddenly, but he shrugged it off.

_Too troublesome, _He thought. _I shouldn't get myself involved in someone's personal business._

Then the last bell rang to go home.

* * *

_**Sakura's POV.**_

I took my time walking home, a blank expression on my face. I thought about Sasuke again and my eyes narrowed angrily. I gritted my teeth.

_That ass, _I thought, angry. _I swear I'll-_

_Oi, are you done seething in pointless rage yet? It's been hours already._

My thoughts were interrupted by the Voice and I almost jumped out of my skin. I forgot that the Voice was here.

_No shit you forgot about me, _The Voice said. _I'm not done with you._

_**NO POV. (A/N: Sorry about the sudden shift in POV. -.-')**_

_Yeah, _Sakura said. She wondered how she knew that she forgot about her but shrugged it off and asked, _What did you mean earlier by 'what we want'?_

The Voice ignored her question. _I'll talk to you later, _She said.

Sakura's eyes widened and she said aloud,"Wait!" Sakura looked around to see if anyone saw her, but the street was empty of life. She saw a tumbleweed roll by.

She sweat dropped. _Why did I take this street to my apartment again?_

She sighed. Looks like her questions will have to wait.

* * *

_**Later that night...**_

_**Sakura's POV.**_

I went to bed that night, hoping the Voice(I call her that) would speak to me again and answer my questions.

I laid awake in my bed, waiting for the Voice to talk to me. She hadn't spoken since earlier when I was on my way home. I stayed awake for hours, until the I could see the stars slowly starting to disappear from the sky to signify that it was almost morning. It was almost sunrise till I finally gave in to my drowsiness and let darkness engulf me into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

_**In Sakura's Dream...**_

Sakura found herself standing in...white? Everything was white. Like a sheet of white paper you stare into and it's as if it was endless.

Sakura craned her head to look around her but saw nothing in sight. Then she could feel someone staring at her and she turned back quickly to see no one.

She sighed in relief and turned to look in front. Her eyes widened in surprise and she stumbled back.

Out of nowhere, a girl about 12 or 13 with brown tinted black hair that reached past her shoulders and fell in layers, stood a few feet in front of her. She was a few inches shorter and and Sakura quickly noticed the girl had an over developed chest.

Sakura looked at the girl's chest with jealousy.

She had perfectly tanned skin and freckles that crossed over her face with plump, full lips that were set in a firm line. Her long bangs were streaked a brighter brown and were parted to the right. Sakura looked at the girl's eyes and was surprised. She had silver speckled dark brown eyes. They looked bored.

The girl wore unrecognizable civilian clothing. She had black ninja boots but other than that, everything else was unrecognizable. She wore a short black cloak with pockets and no zipper with its hood down **(_A/N: In Naruto, they don't have hoodies, so Sakura doens't know what it's called._) **and black jean shorts. She wore no armor or ninja gear, and she didn't look like a threat.

The girl put her hands in the pockets of the short cloak and looked at Sakura lazily.

She sighed. "So I guess I might as well start with introductions. I'm the Voice. M-"

Sakura lunged at the girl with full intent to kill her and the girl who turned out to be the Voice in her head dodged to the left.

This girl just appears out of nowhere and puts this stupid crap on her. Who was she to pull all this nonsense? She could have died with no regrets-

"That's the thing," The girl yelled at her as she continued to dodge Sakura's attacks. "You died with regrets!"

Sakura suddenly froze, her fist in the air ready to swing it at her. She furrowed her brow, confused. Again with the mind reading.

She asked,"What are you talking about?"

The girl stood up from her crouched position, waiting to evade any attack that would come to her.

"The reason why I brought you back to life," She said, steadily."was so I can bring you back in time. We have something in common."

Sakura was breathing heavily and she raised an eyebrow questionably. "What?" She asked.

"We both wished for a different ending. "

Sakura's eyes widened for a moment then her fist was slowly brought down her her side. She closed her eyes and calmed herself before speaking.

"Who are you and what did you mean when you said 'what we want'?" She asked calmly.

The girl sighed in relief and sat down on the white floor, cross legged. She ignored her question."I'm the Voice, but I have a name too. For now you can call me, Mato. It's not my real name but my real one's longer and doesn't sound like it comes from the same language as yours."

Sakura stared hard at Mato. "I don't care about your name. I can call you the Voice for all I care. What I want to know is _what _exactly you are." She said.

Mato craned her head, confused. "What do you mean?" She asked.

Sakura's brow twitched in annoyance. "I mean what I said. How can you be inside my mind? How is all this," Sakura motioned to the white around them. "-possible?"

Mato scoffed. "That's rude." Then she sighed again. "I'd thought you'd be more polite and thankful, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

An irritation mark appeared on Sakura's forehead and she lunged at Mato again, but she froze in mid air. Her eyes widened, shocked.

"W-what the hell?" She said incredulously before she unfroze and landed on her stomach on the floor with an 'oof'.

Mato smirked. "As for what I am, I'm someone even greater than your God of Ninja. Greater than the _Sage of Six Paths_." She said with a hint of smugness.

Sakura stared up at Mato shocked for a moment. Then she turned to look away from the girl and brought a hand up to cover a snicker.

Mato frowned. "What are you laughing at? It's true."

Now Sakura was laughing. She covered her mouth to muffle her laughter. "I'm sorry," She apologized, although it didn't sound like it. She just couldn't believe that this girl, shorter and chubbier than her, was greater that the Sage of Six Paths.

"Hey! I'm not chubby!" Mato yelled suddenly. Sakura glanced at her, shocked again that she knew what she was thinking, as if she could read minds.

Mato nodded and smirked. "I can read minds." She said smuggly. "I could stop whenever I want to though." She assured as she waved her hands.

Sakura gave her an disbelieving look but shrugged it off. She realized Mato was also probably the cause of her frozen and fall. She sighed. It was obvious the strange girl-

"Hey!" Mato said indignantly.

-can read minds. More specifically, hers.

Then she remembered her question hadn't been answered. She gave Mato a look that said 'You're avoiding my question'.

Mato smiled apologetically and scratched the back of her neck self-consciously. " No, I'm not avoiding your question. I tend to get distracted easily. Sorry."

Then her expression became serious and she continued, "Like I said earlier, we both wanted a different ending. That's the reason why you're here now."

Sakura tried to remember when she did wish for that but couldn't recall a moment. Although she felt like the memory was at the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn't get it.

Mato noticed this and added,"You wished for a different ending right before you died so your memory is probably a little fuzzy."

Sakura was silent for a moment. How could all this be possible? Time travel, telepathy, telekinesis?

Sakura wondered what power did this one girl have over her.

Mato smirked again and her gaze held an evil gleam. "I'm more powerful than Kaguya." She said, a little darkly.

Sakura stared at the girl, her face blank, but inside she was a nervous wreck. She had a bad feeling in her stomach and all she wanted to do was run away, but she was frozen in place. If this girl could read her mind and say she's more powerful than Kaguya, who knows what else she could do. She had to think of something else quick.

Then she pondered why she was brought here in the first place. What was she supposed to do here?

Sakura looked at Mato curiously, ignoring her fright, and asked,"Why did you bring me back in time?"

The evil gleam disappeared from her eyes immediately as if it was never there and was replaced with clear irritation. "What do you think? So you can change their future. _Your future_." She emphasized the last part, exasperated.

Sakura eyes widened, surprised. She hadn't thought of that. But what could she do? She was only 12.

Mato shook her head disdainfully. She sighed."You really didn't think you could take advantage of this opportunity?" She asked as she gave an incredulous look.

"You're originally 17 with knowledge of what's going to happen in the future. I can't believe you sometimes," She added and she restrained herself from face palming.

Sakura looked away, flushing with embarrassment. Then she realized something and looked at Mato.

Sakura asked,"If you're so powerful, why don't you just-"

Mato broke in and said,"I could," She blinked and sighed. She said, cooly,"But I won't."

Sakura stared at her, shocked. She shook her head incredulously and asked,"What? If you're so powerful, you could stop the Uchiha Massacre! You could've stopped Orochimaru from giving Sasuke the Curse Mark! You-"

"I know," Mato said, interrupting her again. She gave Sakura a sadistic smirk. "But I'm not gonna," She said.

Sakura looked at her. Why would she do this? If she's so powerful, she could stop all the madness, stop Sasuke. But she just sits here, causing trouble for her.

She gritted her teeth together and yelled at Mato angrily,"Why not!? Why won't you fix all this!? You said you're more powerful than Kaguya! If you were, then you could fix this messed up world!" Then she realized something and she sneered,"Or is it that you are weak and powerless?"

Mato gave her a dark look and her voice was as cold as ice. "Look who's talking," She sneered at Sakura, smirking.

Sakura's eyes widened and she clenched her teeth before looking away. She was angry, not at Mato but at herself. She knew Mato was right.

Mato continued,"And you're wrong." Sakura glanced back at her and her eyes widened, pupils dilating. Mato's eyes became hooded and there was a strange gleam in her eyes. One that was dark and ominous.

Sakura was slightly frightened by the sudden change.

Mato said,"My power is," She smirked up at Sakura, her teeth white and perfect. Perfectly white and sharp.

"Whatever I want it to be."

Sakura stared at her. She was trembling as Mato continued to gaze at her and dark and malicious aura seemed to emit from her.

Salura could clearly feel the change of temperature in the atmosphere around them grow colder and darker, even though the white world around them continued to stay.

This girl was insane. She wants to change the future but she's practically telling her that she isn't someone to mess with and doesn't want to change the most critical things.

Sakura's eyes widened again. _If she could read minds, she could still hear my thoughts, _She thought, realization hitting her.

Then, as if nothing had happened, the air shifted from cold and eery to warm and happy.

Mato's dark gaze and scary scowl turned into a huge grin and her eyes crinkled happily.

"Anyway, you should get going. A couple minutes here is like several hours in the real world," She said. Then her eyes widened, remembering something. She looked up curiously and added,"Now that I think about it, it's probably almost 8 AM in the real world."

.

.

.

"NANI!?" Sakura screamed, her eyes wide. She looked around the white world they were in, looking for an exit.

She screamed shrilly again,"I'M GOING TO BE LATE!"

And with that, started her second chance to change their future.

* * *

_**THANK YOU FOR READING THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MY NEW STORY,**_

_**THROW-BACK THURSDAY **!_


	3. Chapter 2

_**Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, and Clovers. In 4 years, your life will be over.**_

**That was a good poem I just made from the top of my head. I should write that down...**

* * *

**Chapter 2: **

**Tests to Retake - **

**A Chance to Cheat or a Chance to Ruin?**

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes and abruptly sat up from her bed, looking at the clock.

It was 7:50 AM.

Sakura quickly got up frantically and stumbled to her bathroom to brush her teeth. After she was finished with the bathroom, she ran out and quickly threw open her closet door. She looked around for something to wear.

All she saw were inconvenient, ugly dresses.

Sakura growled in frustration. _Fuck it. I don't have time, _She thought in a hurry.

She grabbed one and threw it on, grabbing her forehead protecter. She gazed down at it, remembering how naíve she was when she put it on.

She narrowed her eyes and tied it over her head as usual. She took one quick look in her full length mirror once more. Her pink hair was a little frazzled, but she didn't care.

She'd cut it later.

Sakura ran down stairs to the kitchen and to the front door, saying her 'byes' to her mother and father before running out the door and down the street towards the Academy.

_I don't have time, _She thought and looked up towards the roofs of the buildings she ran by. _I'll travel by rooftop._

She jumped up and landed gracefully on a tiled roof. She ran full speed and headed in the direction of the Academy.

As she neared the Academy, she could see one of the windows of her class were open and she hastened her pace. She jumped straight through the open window and landed in an empty seat next to Shikamaru just as Iruka started to call the names of team 3.

There was the loud sound of skidding wood and shifting positions and all heads, excluding Sasuke, turned towards the back corner of the classroom. They saw Sakura who hadn't been there before breathing heavily and her hair askew. Shikamaru was looking at her as if she was crazy.

Sakura glanced down at her old seat, where she had sat between Naruto and Sasuke. It'd seemed that Ino took advantage of Sakura's tardiness and took her seat. She was trying to talk to Sasuke, but he continued to ignore her.

Iruka stared at the sight wide eyed. He sweatdropped and waved to her. "Haruno," He said. "Please refrain from jumping through the windows. Thank you."

She nodded at Iruka and breathed a heavy sigh of relief before she laid her head on her desk tiredly. She was exhausted. She guessed that her stamina wasn't as good as it was in the future.

As Iruka continued to announce the members of the teams, Sakura had drifted off into a dreamless sleep and Shikamaru sleeping right next to her. They were quietly snoring in sync.

Ino turned back and had tried to wake her up a couple of times to brag and bet that she'd get on Sasuke's team but she failed to do so. In frustration, she gave up and continued to_ try _to start a conversation with Sasuke who continued to stare out the window, ignoring her.

_Seriously, _Ino thought, glancing at her ex best friend. _What is up with Forehead today?_

* * *

_**Minutes later...**_

"...Team 7!"

Sakura woke up with a start, nearly knocking over Shikamaru in the process and he woke up.

Iruka continued,"Sakura Haruno..."

Now he had Sakura's full attention. She listened closely and leaned her head on her hand in anticipation, even though she already knew what he was going to say.

She mimicked the words as Iruka said them.

"Sakura Haruno..." She lipped and Shikamaru sideway glanced at her curiously.

"Naruto Uzumaki..." She lipped again and Shikamaru looked at Iruka to Sakura shocked. Sakura didn't notice his stare and Naruto jumped up and cheered.

"And Sasuke Uchiha." Sakura didn't lip his name. Instead, she glared knives into the back of his head as other girls started yelling in protest at Iruka and Sakura in the background. Shikamaru's gaze shifted between Sasuke and Sakura suspiciously.

_She isn't fangirling. I repeat. She is NOT fangirling, _Shikamaru thought, panicking. He turned away, a drop of sweat trickled down his temple with panic. _Something really is wrong. This is serious._

Sakura stopped listening and looked out the window. Something caught her attention and she side glanced at Shikamaru. His back was turned to her and his hands were on his temples in a strongly confused manner. An aura of extreme panic and confusion was emitting from him and Sakura raised an eyebrow at with innocent curiosity.

She shrugged it off, guessing it was a guy thing, and turned her head to look out the window.

_Not again, _She thought and her expression turned into determination. _I won't make any mistakes. Not this time._

Minutes later after the teams were assigned, they were dismissed for lunch and were told to meet with their sensei's after.

* * *

_**Outside with Sakura...**_

She walked down the stone path towards the stone bench she used in her other life, holding a box of dango she quickly bought and a bamboo bottle of tea.

She sat down and was deep in thought.

Thoughts about Sasuke.

She gritted her teeth together, the grip on the bamboo bottle tightening and it cracked. She glared down where her lunch laid untouched on her lap and seethed.

_Baka Sasuke. Stupid. Dum. Idiot Sasuke_, She thought angrily.

She was still angry at Sasuke. She held a grudge against him. Not because he caused her death, but because he caused the people that cared about him so much pain. Even when Naruto insisted that he would save him, she knew he too was also angry with Sasuke for the same reasons, although he didn't show it or dwell on it.

Then she realized she was thinking about Sasuke. _Again._

She sighed irritably. She continued to glare down at her lap and growled before putting the leaking cracked bottle down next to her and forcing the box open, taking a stick of dango. As she bit off the strawberry flavored one at the top, she thought it was delicious and she felt a little happy. For once in a while, she smiled. A gentle smile.

She put the box to the side and held the stick of dango in her hand, savoring the taste of strawberries.

_This is nice, _She thought, still smiling slightly. _I haven't-_

She felt a familiar presence and her guard was up in a second. She looked up, the stick of dango in her mouth.

Across from her, Sasuke leaned against a tree with his arms crossed, smiling at her.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, still chewing, and turned her head to look away, not blushing. At all.

She glanced at Sasuke from the corner of her eyes suspiciously. Something told her that this was not the Sasuke she knew. The way he smiled so easily, the way he was so relaxed. The way he walked towards her -_ Wait, what?_

"Sasuke" was now standing in front of her and he was still _smiling_.

She knew exactly who it was before she sensed his chakra signature.

He spoke up first. "Sakura," He said, trying to sound cool. "Your forehead is so wide and shiny it makes me feel like kissing it."

Sakura sighed and put down the empty skewer down in the box. She looked up at "Sasuke" and gave him a long cold stare, her eyes uncaring and bored. Her lips were set in a firm line.

It set "Sasuke" into a cold sweat and he started getting nervous.

He stuttered,"S-so, Sakura," He sat down next her. He smiled at her, trying to look as calm as he could. "I want to ask you something."

Sakura nodded at him, staring at him coldly.

"What do you think about Naruto?"

Sakura blinked. _I knew it._

She sighed again and stood up before she stood in front of him. She moved so she was leaning in front of him and her face would be a few inches in front of his.

"Sasuke" leaned back and blinked a few times, confused. He flushed a little.

"N-Nani? What are you doing?" He asked. She closed her eyes and leaned in more closer, making the distance between them smaller and smaller.

"Sasuke's" eyes widened in realization and he leaned in a little too as he closed his eyes. They were only centimeters apart.

He continued to lean in and...

He fell over.

He scrambled to sit up, shock written all over his face and he looked up. Sakura loomed over him, a dark and serious expression replaced the cold, blank stare she'd worn.

A drop of sweat trickled down "Sasuke's" temple as he nervously smiled up at her.

"Uhhh...so," He spoke up nervoulsy and raised an eyebrow. "No kiss?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and raised an eyebrow back at him before she spoke. Her voice was lazy and indifferent.

"Naruto, you actually thought I was going to kiss you?"

There was a puff of smoke and the spot on the bench that "Sasuke" had occupied was filled with a pouting Naruto.

"How'd ya know it was me?" He asked curiously, disappointment lacing his voice.

Her face was serious and her lips were set in a firm line. She held up a finger towards him.

"First off, Sasuke doesn't let his guard down," She explained, referring to when "Sasuke-transformed" Naruto fell over. Then she held up two fingers.

"Second, Sasuke doesn't smile at girls. In fact, he doesn't smile at all. He mopes."

Naruto looked at Sakura, his brow furrowed in confusion as he processed this information she was giving him.

She then held up three fingers. "Last but not least, third, Sasuke doesn't care for other people. He is _heartless,_" She said coldly and her eyes narrowed at nothing as she said that last part.

Naruto's eyes widened for a moment as he'd listened. _This isn't like Sakura-chan at all, _He thought. But being Naruto, he put it aside. For now.

Sakura sat back down and held out a stick of dango towards him as she raised an eyebrow again, silently offering him it. She was acting as if what she had said was normal.

Naruto shook his head at the offering. "No thanks, I'm good," He declined.

Sakura shrugged and gathered her dango box before she stood up again and popped the stick of dango into her mouth. She turned to walk away down the path, but before she took a full step, she stopped and turned back to Naruto.

"That, and it wasn't your chakra signature," She added, nonchalantly. Naruto stared at her with shock as she turned and walked away.

As his eyes trailed after her, he wondered what happened to the nice and loud Sakura he knew.

He was startled when he heard a menacing and feral-like growl coming from the opposite direction of where Sakura walked away.

"NA-RU-TO!" Naruto turned back to find Sasuke trudging down the path angrily towards him, his fists clenched and his mouth in a snarl.

Naruto scooted away from him, still sitting on the bench. He sweat dropped nervously.

"H-hey, Sasuke! How's it goin'? Where were you?"

Sasuke stopped in front of Naruto and growled,"You-"

He stopped to glanced down, still frowning. He looked back at Naruto, pointing downward.

"Did you seriously piss yourself?"

Naruto blinked, confused and he looked down at his lap. It was soaked with green tea. Next to him, was an empty cracked bamboo bottle.

He looked back up at Sasuke, panicking. "NO!"

* * *

_**Later after lunch...**_

Kakashi walked down the hall, towards his new team. He was in deep thought.

_Is the Hokage really serious? _He thought.

He was standing outside the door now and he sighed tiredly before he reached to slid the door open. He was about to step in when he felt something fall on his head and land on the floor with a thud.

It was a stupid chalkboard eraser.

_I don't see any teamwork here, _He thought. _But they could have planned this together._

His lone eye that wasn't hidden behind his forehead protecter moved to scan the room. The last Uchiha, Sasuke, sat closest to him, hands intertwined under his nose and ignoring anyone and everyone. The Kyuubi jinchuriki, Naruto, was standing not far from him, laughing and tears were forming at the corners of his eyes. Then his eye trailed to the far end of the room, where the normal, civilian-born girl known as Sakura sat on a chair gazing out the window, not paying any attention to her new teammates.

_I definitely don't see any teamwork here, _He thought.

He spoke up after Naruto finished laughing off.

"Meet me on the roof," He instructed before he disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

As Naruto and Sasuke left, no one noticed, but there were teardrops on Sakura's desk.

She had been weeping in silence. The whole day and yesterday after she had found out she was living in the past, she had been holding back with every fiber of her being from hugging every one of her friends, her family. But she knew she couldn't show she was from the future. She knew she couldn't tell the truth. _Not to anyone._

She quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand.

_Crying, _She thought, angrily as she stood up. _Is a weakness. There is no use in crying and there is no room for weaknesses._

She made her way out of the classroom and up the stairs to the roof. Determined, she thought, _This will be the last I cry. I promise._

* * *

_**Minutes later on the roof...**_

Kakashi observed his new team with critical eye, without showing it of course. He quietly noted Sakura's face, which looked like she had been crying with the slight trails of dry tears on her face. If he wasn't a jounin, he may have not notice it. The other two sure didn't.

The three new graduates were sitting on the steps next to each other, Naruto in the middle while Sasuke sat to his right with hands folded under his nose again and Sakura's head leaning on her hand on her knee to his left. Although, she sat with a light distance between her and the other two, enough to make it unnoticeable.

Almost unnoticeable.

He was the first to speak up. "So tell me about yourselves," He said.

No one spoke. They obviously didn't know what to say. Except the pink-haired girl, but Kakashi and the other two didn't know that.

Kakashi sighed,"Tell me your names, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future," He shrugged. "Stuff like that."

He motioned to Naruto. "You go first."

Naruto grinned confidently. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki," He announced enthusiasictally. "I like - no - _love -_"

Sakura cut in. She had been silent for a while.

"Why don't you go first?" She asked Kakashi as innocently as she could, but her voice came out low. Still sounds like a girl but low. It's hard to act innocent when you've experienced war and heartbreak at the same time. But it seemed convincing. "We don't even know your name."

Kakashi pointed at himself, pretending to be confused. "Me?"

"I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate," He paused to think before resuming. "I don't feel like telling you that."

Naruto looked at him in confusion. Sakura sweatdropped and her brow twitched in annoyance with the slightest movement.

_That's because you don't want us to know that you like reading your shitty-ass porn all day and hate when you someone disturbs you, _She thought, annoyed.

He continued. "My dreams for the future," He paused again to think. "I've never really thought about it. As for my hobbies...I have lots of hobbies."

They didn't say anything, but Sakura and Naruto were sure thinking the same thing, even if Sakura already kne that was going to happen.

_This was pointless, _They thought.

"Okay, now back to you," He said as he nodded to Naruto. "You were saying."

Naruto fiddled his forehead protecter as he restarted, using Kakashi's little intro as a guide.

"Beleive it! I'm Naruto Uzumaki," He announced enthusiastically again. "I like instant ramen in a cup and I really like the ramen Iruka-sensei got me at Ichiraku ramen shop. But I hate..."

Kakashi sweatdropped at Naruto.

"...And my future dream is," Naruto paused for dramatic affect. "To be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like a somebody. Somebody important," He added.

_Oh, he's grown up in a very interesting way, _Kakashi thought. He noticed Sakura had a small, gentle smile that was almost unnoticeable. To those two boys at least.

He sighed, "Alright, next."

There was a moment of silence. Sakura stayed quiet until Sasuke finally decided to introduce himself.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha," He said. "I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything."

His face had a dark and determined look as he continued darkly, "What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone."

_Just as I thought, _Kakashi thought.

Sakura rolled her eyes, annoyed, and Kakashi noted that tiny act of hers too.

There was another moment of awkward silence until Kakashi spoke up. "Okay. Last one," He said as he turned to look at the silent, pink-haired girl.

Sakura nodded at him. "I'm Sakura Haruno," She said in a normal tone. If you call robotic a human tone of voice.

"I like the color," She paused to think and resumed. "- red and dango. I don't have to tell you what I hate." Her voice hardened at that last part. "And I don't have to tell you my dreams or hobbies," She concluded lightly.

Naruto gave her a questioning look and Sasuke continued to ignore them.

"Good, you're each unique and you all have your own ideas. We have our first mission tomorrow," Kakashi said, casually. He ignored the awkwardness.

* * *

_**After they realize they have to pass a survival test...**_

_**Later that night at the training grounds...7:50 PM**_

Sakura walked through the trees and stood at the edge of a clearing. She sighed tiredly.

_I hope it works, _She thought.

_It better. Or you are fucked, _Mato replied, straightforward.

Sakura restrained herself from mentally flicking Mato off and focused her chakra into her fist slowly.

_So far so good, _She thought. _My chakra control is still good. Next comes the hard part._

She raised her fist and looked down the ground in front of her. She narrowed her eyes and aimed at a spot.

_Okay. Here goes._

She brought her fist down and the second her fist made contact, she released her chakra into the ground. She heard the sound of rocks cracking and she stood up straight. She observed her work, disdainfully.

It only made a crack and her knuckles were scratched pretty badly.

Sakura cringed in pain. _Argh! Okay, that hurt a little, _She thought.

_Hey, look on the bright side, _Mato said, enthusiastically.

Sakura clenched her teeth in frustration.

_What bright side? _She thought angrily. _It's not even one fourth as big as the one's I made months before I took the chunnin exams the second time. And I was in my _eighth _month of training! I was barely able to make a small crater!_

_Maybe so, but it's bigger than the first time you tried it, neh? It's 6 inches long, _Mato said.

Sakura rolled her eyes. She concentrated chakra into her left hand and held it over the scrapes on her knuckles, focusing on healing the broken tissue and cells and her chakra turned a minty green.

_I can't use medical ninjutsu well either, _Sakura thought sadly. She had tried to heal the scrapes fully, but she only managed to close them a little. And it wasn't even close.

_My chakra levels aren't as high either,_ She thought, realizing that also explained the small results.

She would have to train the whole night without breaks to at least make a tiny crater the size of her fist, which was small and petite for her lean figure.

She sighed.

_This is going to be a long night, _She thought, tiredly.

* * *

_**Early the next morning...2:30 AM**_

Sakura was on the verge of collapsing by the time she felt like she was good. She had trained nonstop the whole night, with only two two minute water breaks and three minutes to meditate so she could replenish a little chakra. When she finally finished, she grinned at the sight. The training ground she used was full of cracks, medium size craters, and debris.

She beamed proudly and fell, laying on her back in the middle of the broken training field.

She looked up at the slowly brightening sky. The sun was just rising over the horizon and the sky was clear of clouds.

Sakura sighed happily.

_Peace was all there is in this time line. I miss this, _She thought, happily remembering the good times she had in her first life with her friends and family.

Then Sakura's face became grim and she gritted her teeth, pissed.

_No. As I'm laying here, doing nothing, my enemies are scheming and readying themselves to destroy my home,_ She thought, angry at herself for indulging in selfish bliss.

Stiffly, she attempted to sit up. Unfortunetly, she'd pushed herself to her limits while she was training and fell back down. She breathed heavily and gazed sadly at the bright and peaceful sky.

_Hey, Mato, _She called. _You there._

There was a short moment of silence before she replied.

_Yeah, I'm here. What do you want?_

Sakura was quiet, thinking, before she spoke. _What happened to everyone else?_

Sakura couldn't see her, but Mato raised an eyebrow, curiously. _What do you mean?_

_I mean, I'm here in this time, but what happened to the others. Naruto, my friends, my parents, _She said quietly and paused, daring herself to say it. _And Sasuke._

Mato stayed silent, pondering on what to say. It was silent for so long, Sakura could feel the blood pulsing in her neck and hear the calm beat of her heart.

It felt like hours but was actually agonizing seconds until Mato finally spoke.

_I don't know, _She said quietly. Her face was serious, but her eyes looked happy and sad at the same time. She smiled gently. But Sakura couldn't see it.

Mato decided to change the subject. _What's up with you? It's not like you to talk. Much less ask questions, _She stated, furrowing her brow in confusion.

Sakura shrugged._ I'm just curious, _She said, nonchalantly. Only a while ago had she been gazing sadly at the sky. She was obviously hiding her true feelings. She felt like she would cry if she actually let them out.

Mato shrugged it off and Sakura spoke again.

She asked, _How did you that?_

Mato gave her a look. _Hm?_

_How did you bring me back in time? What about time pardoxes and stuff?_

Mato paused to think, pondering on how to explain. _Well, I wanted to avoid anything that could happen to your own body first, _She explained. _I should start from the beginning._

_There are three critical parts that make us human. A sound mind, body and soul. I wanted to leave your corpse undamaged. Or at least not more damaged than it already was. A human can not live without a soul. Since you were already dying at the time, I thought it would be okay if I also took your mind. Just before your soul could crossover, I took your mind and soul and traveled into the past._

Sakura nodded, listening intently as Mato continued.

_I traveled to the past to the day before Team 7 was formed. When I stuffed — put,_ Mato corrected frantically. — _your soul and mind into your 12 year old body, your 12 year old self fell asleep._

Sakura broke in. _What happened to my 12 year old self? Then _Sakura thought about something and asked worriedly, _Was it transfered into my dead body?_

Mato shook her head. _No, I would have to do that manually. It's still there,_ Mato assured her._ Since your 17 year old mind and soul was wiser and stronger, it dominated your twelve year old body and took control. Your twelve year old soul and mind are just unconscious. You could say they're in a coma._

_I also wanted to avoid a time paradox..._ Mato had to pause. She had to think of a reason, but she coudn't think of an excuse. _For various reasons. Whatever you do in this time could affect the future. But time paradoxes can only be caused if a body with both a mind and soul travel into a different time._

Sakura didn't understand why Mato wanted to avoid a paradox, since that was what they were basically doing, but she ignored it and shook her head. Something else was pulling at her curiosity. Her brow furrowed in confusion. _I don't get it. Then where is my twelve year old mind and soul?_

_It's there. I mingled your soul and mind together. Lucky for you, it didn't cause any deformities, _Mato said, smiling mischievously.

Sakura sweat dropped nervously. _What do you mean by deformities?_

Mato shook her head at her, mischievously and smiled again. _Oh never mind!_

Sakura shrugged it off and realized something. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed before. _What happened to Inner?! _She asked, panic in her voice.

_Huh?_ Mato said and looked to her left._ Oh, Inner? Yeah, she's here. I just put her on mute. She's really annoying._

In Mato's white realm inside Sakura's mind, Inner stood a few feet away from Mato, chained to a steel post with metallic duck tape over her mouth. She was wriggling in her captivity of chains and her eyes narrowed at her in anger. She tried to yell out something, but it was muffled from the duck tape.

Mato walked over to her and ripped the tape off her mouth. Inner gasped and cursed in pain.

"Damn it! That fucking hurt!" She glared at Mato and added, "Next time you want to exclude me from the conversation, you can suck my —"

She was silenced when Mato smirked and happily slapped the duck tape over her mouth again.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief, knowing Inner was still with her and chuckled, imagining what they did in her head and matching the dialogue.

Mato turned away from Inner's struggling body and put her hands on her hips. She said to Sakura, still smirking, _See? Nothing to worry about._

Sakura nodded in relief as her eyelids flutter closed, and she drifted into another dreamless sleep.

* * *

_**6 hours and 50 minutes later...8:20 AM**_

Sakura awoke, eyes snapping open in surprise, to Inner screaming in her mind. _SAKURA, WA-KEY, WA-KEY! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!_

Shakily, Sakura sat up and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands. She yawned, "What time is it?"

Inner yelled grumpily and Sakura guessed it was because of what Mato did to her._ It's time for you to get a fucking watch! Now get your ass moving! It's past eight!_

Sakura stretched her arms and legs out and yawned again. _So what? Kakashi's usually like 3 hours late, _She said.

Inner face palmed and gritted her teeth. _You were supposed to meet up at 5, Dumbass, _She said, frustrated.

Sakura yawned again and scratched her back. It took her a few seconds to process this.

Then her eyes widened and she abruptly stood up. She thought. _I'm going to be late!_

She took one step and stumbled. She looked down at her sore body frustratedly. Sakura gritted her teeth and reluctantly, through the pain, made her way into town.

She wasn't going to fight Kakashi in an inconvenient, dirty, torn dress.

_Nope._

* * *

_**A little later...8:30 AM**_

Kakashi turned to look back at Sakura, who was several yards away, running full speed towards them. He immediately noticed her new attire. And it wasn't a girly dress like before.

The day they met, after their meeting, Sakura went straight to the tailor store. Well not straight. She had gone home and designed her new clothes herself, made for felxability. She left and gave her designs to a family friend who owned a big clothing store in town and payed them in advanced to make her clothes. She payed extra, so they would have it done by tomorrow morning.

**(A/N: Gomen. I am too lazy to bother describing Sakura's new outfit. **_**She wears a smaller version of her clothes from Naruto the movie: The Last.**_** So just picture 12 year old Sakura in that! She still has long hair though. On with the story!)**

She stopped next to Naruto, resting her hands on her knees and taking deep breaths. Kakashi and Naruto stared at her while Sasuke continued to ignore them as usual.

"Sakura, you're three hours late," Kakashi said.

Sakura looked up and glared at him, not harshly as she did to Sasuke though. It was more tired and grumpy.

"Please," She scoffed. "I bet you got here minutes before I did." Sakura's body suddenly stiffened slightly at what she said.

_Crap, _She thought, panicked, still keeping a straight face. _He doesn't know that I know him. Did he notice? Dear Kami, please don't notice!_

"Hm," Kakashi didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything to that. You can't beat the facts. But how did she know that? She didn't even see him come appear out of no where like the other two. She arrived about ten minutes later.

"Fine," He said, brushing it off. He already knew he was infamous for being really late than the designated time. She probably heard about it from some other people. Then again, it doesn't hurt to be a little more cautious. He would find out some other time.

"As punishment for being late, I won't explain anything to you on what we're doing. You're going to have to figure that out on your own," He instructed sternly.

Sakura shrugged. She could guess on what they were doing...and how it would end.

"OK," Kakashi started. "When I say start, you start."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto, who was grinning confidently, nodded.

"Ready," Kakashi warned. "...Start!"

They disappeared.

Sakura hid several yards away, covering herself from view by standing behind thick branches high in a tree. From where she was standing, she had the perfect view of Kakashi, who stood calmly in the middle of the field near a creek. Then Naruto came in like a wrecking ball.

Loud and destructive.

_I'll wait, _She thought as she watched the scene with amusement and she smirked confidently. _Patience is a virtue. He's going to give us another chance anyway. I'll test my strength when he's done with _him_._

Outwardly, her face showed disgust as she thought of _him._ There was a dreadful feeling in her chest, but she ignored it.

Before she knew it, Kakashi had already disappeared.

Sakura's eyes widened as she felt a presence behind her. She quickly turned to find Kakashi making a hand sign. Leaves fell and she suddenly felt very tired, enough to sleep right on the spot.

As she started to fall back, she realized he was casting a genjutsu and as tired as she was, she used as much strength she could muster and broke the genjutsu just as she landed.

She yelped in slight pain and sat up.

_Damn, _She thought, exasperated. _Should've seen that one coming._

* * *

_**Several minutes later...with Sasuke and Kakashi**_

Next thing he knew, he was neck deep into the ground. He growled at Kakashi, who was kneeling in front of him.

_I almost had it, _He thought, frustrated. _I almost had it!_

Then in a flash of red and pink, he heard the sound of rocks shattering and saw debris flying everywhere.

He stared, shocked at the scene before him and sweat dropped.

Sakura stood in front of him, back turned to him, and in a fighting stance. She had done an ax kick, coming from up behind Kakashi and aiming for the spot where he had been standing.

Kakashi had dodged, back flipping several feet away.

_Hm, _He thought. _Another one. Is she defending him? Or is she out for herself?_

Sakura came at him again with her chakra enhanced fist raised. He dodged again as if it was nothing, but Sakura's fist continued on its path and she hit the ground Kakashi had been standing on moments before. The sound of rocks breaking and cracking filled their ears and Sakura smirked at their disbelieving faces.

There was a crater the size of _two _Sasuke's. Sasuke swallowed at the sight.

Sakura glanced at her fist. The black gloves she wore were slightly worn and were almost ready to rip. She would have to travel to the Land of Iron to get the actual gloves she'd worn in her first life. The pair she was given in the Land of Iron were high quality and were made for combat. They could withstand any damage any normal pair of gloves should have taken. She called them her Lucky Clovers. She had been wearing them when her missions were successful, passed the Chunnin exams, and fought Sasori.

She looked up at Kakashi and her eyes widened. Kakashi was gone.

She quickly glanced to either side of her and turned behind her. Then she looked up. No sign of him on land. Sakura smiled. She raised her fist and brought it down.

Just as Kakashi was about bring her into his Head Hunter Jutsu, she broke the ground he was under. Which was right under her feet.

The ground caved in on him and he stood in his spot, his eyes wide as saucers and he sweat dropped.

_The files didn't say anything about these skills,_ He thought, confused. _Where did she learn this? I don't remember hearing Tsunade-hime having another apprentice. _His body became more tense than around most gennins, like when he pushed Sasuke away right as their fight ended.

Sakura smirked, but her confidence was shortened. She noticed a change in Kakashi and she narrowed her eyes.

He was going to get serious. _Without the Sharingan._

That was what she'd her, getting Kakashi to use his Sharingan against her would be the ultimate complement.

It pissed her off.

She gritted her teeth and this time, jumped at him, attempting to give a side kick to him in the face.

Like she anticipated, Kakashi caught her leg in his hand and he was shocked. Sakura hadn't put too much chakra, but the small amount she had released into him sent a violent shiver into his body, like his bones were trembling from the inside out. It was as if she sent electricity into his body. Then she tried to punch him and he caught her fist in his other hand. Luckily, she didn't even try to put chakra in that one, otherwise he wouldn't be able to recover from that one as quickly as the first attack.

Sakura glanced at the bells, smirking, and Kakashi realized what she had been doing.

_He's wide open._

_I'm wide open!_

Sakura twisted and swiftly reached down to grab a silver bell. It was in her grasp, touching her palm, when her eyes widened and she was sent flying back. She managed to land on a hand spring and she pressed a hand to her stomach painfully. She looked around. Kakashi had kicked her in the stomach and disappeared.

Kakashi watched her grit her teeth in frustration and punch a crater into the ground from his high perch in a tree several yards away, chakra hidden.

_This kid, _He thought suspiciously. _Is not what she seems._

He looked at both her and the buried young Uchiha, who was looking at her with a surprised expression. Somehow, she did the exact same thing Sasuke had did to him and if he hadn't realized sooner, she could have gotten the bell. He knew she wasn't watching and just happened to find their fight finished with Kakashi as the victor. He hadn't sensed her chakra, or her presence lingering.

They had also been out for themselves.

_Those two are really something._

Then he heard the strangled cry of a frustrated animal caught in a trap. He sighed, tiredly.

He would hide with Naruto, until time was up.

* * *

_**After time was up...**_

After Kakashi had disappeared, Sakura had happily left Sasuke to search for Kakashi. But in their last few hours of their time limit, she was not able to find him.

Naruto was already tied up in the middle and Sasuke was eating in silence to Naruto's right. Sakura was the last to reach the posts and she hid a confident grin as she took a boxed lunch. She leaned against the wooden post to Naruto's left. Then Kakashi popped in, his hands in his pockets and a nonchalant look on his face.

"So I have decided that...oh who am I kidding. I'm just gonna be straight forward with you guys," Kakashi said, exasperated. "You all..."

The three leaned in towards him, anticipating his answer.

"Fail."

Their jaws dropped...except Sakura's, who was confident in what she "knew" was going to happen. Naruto was the first to speak.

"What do you mean 'We fail'?" He asked in disbelief. He struggled in his place.

"I mean what I said. You. Fail."

Sasuke looked as if he was ready to beat someone to death. He already broke his pair of chopped sticks in two. Sakura was silent though, still feeling confident, but she had to play along. She couldn't give anything away. But for some reason, she felt like something was off. This wasn't what exactly happened in her last life and she felt like Kakashi was being completely serious. Sakura showed no emotions as she looked Kakashi, but her grip on her chopsticks tightened slightly.

But it seemed that Sasuke calmed down and gazed at Kakashi with little relief.

"We still go back to the Academy, right?" He asked, but he sounded sure that was what he was going to do. He felt confident.

Kakashi's eyes widened a moment, looking as if he realized he forgot something.

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot to mention. Yeah," He said, trying to sound guilty. He didn't. "I'm dropping you from the program. Permanently."

Now Sasuke looked liked he was about to beat someone to death and Sakura glanced at him with anticipation. She readied herself.

Just as Sasuke grabbed his kunai from his holster and was about to sprint to Kakashi, Sakura was standing behind him and gripping the back of his high collar tightly. She stared at him blankly when he turned to glare up at her.

They stood there, giving each other looks, and Sakura waited several seconds till Sasuke finally gave in and calmed down enough to sit back down. But when Sakura let go of his collar, instantly he dashed towards Kakashi with kunai poised.

Sakura had also knew this would happen and stood in place, uncaring that Sasuke was pressed into the ground by Kakashi. Her face was still blank as Kakashi spoke in a serious tone.

"All three of you acted selfishly. Three man-squads and only two will pass? Have you even seen a two-man squad?! You didn't even stop to think that I was testing your teamwork." Then he turned to look at Sakura.

"Sakura, kill Naruto and or else I'll kill Sasuke."

Sakura didn't speak and Naruto's gaze swiveled nervously between her and Kakashi with panic, afraid he was going to die at her hands. Sakura lowered her head slightly, causing her fringe to curtain over her hooded eyes.

"See, this is the type of situation I'm talking about. Where someone is taken captive and someone is forced to sacrifice one person. But in this world, that's a win-lose situation," He sighed and let go of Sasuke. Sasuke quickly got up and walked back to his seat, his eyes hooded behind his bangs. Sakura still stood there behind Sasuke, like a statue.

"This is one of the reasons why teamwork is so important. There will be a time where you'll have to choose and teamwork can get you out of it. You all will be dropped from the program. "

Kakashi sighed and turned to walk away. Just as Kakashi took a step, Sakura spoke up.

"Wait!"

With Kakashi's back still turned to them, he looked back with a questionable look. "Hm?"

With eyes still hidden and hooded, Sakura gritted her teeth before sighing, calming herself down. In a soft tone, she spoke.

"Please pass Naruto and...Sasuke," She pleaded softly. No one didn't see it, but Kakashi's eyes widened in the slightest. He was taken aback by the sudden change in attitude. Now she had Kakashi's full attention. He turned so his front side face them too.

"Hm? Why should I do that?"

Sakura struggled to put her thoughts into words. "B-Because," She stuttered. She took a deep breath. She decided she'd just get it over with. She looked up and straight into Kakashi's eye.

"They are my teammates. I will take full responsibility for our failure."

They were all caught by surprise at what she said. Sasuke and Naruto's eyes widened as they stared at her, Kakashi's only slightly again. Sakura continued.

"To be honest, I knew teamwork was the answer from the start," She said truthfully. She looked at the ground, avoiding everyone's gaze. "But I was selfish and wanted to test my ability against a jounin. Gomen, Kakashi-sensei. I am the one at fault. I should have tried to convinced Naruto and Sasuke that we should work together to try to get the bells. I am the one to blame. So." Sakura looked back up at Kakashi again, determination hardening her jade eyes.

"Please pass Naruto and Sasuke. Since I am the one at fault, I will be the only one to be dropped from the program."

Kakashi was silent as he stared at the pink-haired girl. He could hear the honesty in her voice and see the truth in her eyes. The determination to get her teammates to pass made her even more believable, not that he doubted her. He believed her the second she spoke the truth. But there was something missing. Undoubtedly, she was speaking the truth, but when it came to the young Uchiha she immediately distances herself from him, making their teamwork incomplete. He would have to test them even more. Starting now.

He nodded in understanding and Sakura started walking towards Kakashi. "Very well. You will be the only one to be dropped from the program. So -"

Sasuke broke in, making Sakura stop and turn back to them. "No," He said."I won't accept this."

This girl has the nerve to sacrifice herself for them. He wouldn't let that happen. He was supposed to be the strong one. He was an Uchiha. He was _supposed_ to be the strong one. But no. His ass was saved by a fangirl - _no_ \- a former fangirl. But his Uchiha pride wouldn't let her do that. No sir.

He stood up and glared at Kakashi. Kakashi could see there was something in his eyes, like...fire. A blue flame that refused to be put out. He didn't understand what it was though. Determination? Will? He didn't know, but he could tell Sasuke wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"I'm not going to let you save my ass again," Sasuke said to Sakura, glaring at her as well and her eyes widened. He turned back to Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, we're a team. So we should all get dropped together otherwise it would be unfair. Besides it's also my fault that we had not considered teaming up against you. As an Uchiha, I should have realized it sooner."

"Plus," He added before avoiding their gazes and what he said, he said it so quietly they almost didn't hear it. "She deserves to pass."

Sasuke had a microscopic blush on his cheeks that was unnoticeable to Kakashi. He really couldn't believe he just lowered his pride to admit something so stupid. Well, it was actually kind of noble. But it was the truth and it sort of gave a light feeling in his chest. He sighed as if a weight had been lifted off his chest.

Naruto, having seemed tired of being excluded from the conversation, spoke up.

"Yeah! They're right! It's only fair we all get dropped together from the program!" He supported. "Believe it!"

To be honest, he really didn't like the idea of getting dropped from the program, but Sasuke was right. It wasn't fair to Sakura and she deserved to pass. Yet, she asked if only Sasuke and him pass and she be dropped. He couldn't let her do that either.

Sakura's gaze switched between the two boys, eyes wide in disbelief. She had noticed the light red hue on Sasuke's cheeks and what he said shocked her to no end. It actually sent a warm feeling in her chest but she ignored it.

Kakashi was also surprised. He could see the sparks lighting in their eyes as they defended her. He could hear the honesty in Sasuke and Naruto's voice too. Behind the mask he wore was a small gentle smile. He felt proud.

"Is that what you want?" He asked. "For all of you to be dropped from the program..._together_?"

Naruto and Sasuke nodded firmly.

Kakashi was silent for a moment and the trio awaited his answer.

"I'm sorry, but you guys..." He trailed off, apologetically and their faces fell. "Pass!"

They stared at Kakashi with surprise.

There was a moment of silence before heads turned to the sudden sound of laughter.

They stared at Sakura, who clutched her stomach and was bending down with tears at the corners of her eyes, in surprise.

Why is she laughing? Because to her, the whole thing seemed unbelievably silly, like a joke. Sasuke defending her, it made her laugh. But she was really laughing because even though they are young, they acted so responsible, like adults.

And it made her want to cry, happy they defended her, so she _laughed_ it off.

Soon, Naruto and Kakashi joined in and Sasuke smirked.

* * *

_**Later after they finished...**_

After they finished their laugh together, Kakashi decided that he'd head home, but Sakura knew he was heading to the bookstore again like usual.

As Kakashi walked away, he could hear Sakura walk away and he quickly disappeared to a perfectly good view of Sakura _and _Sasuke.

_Come on, Sakura,_ He thought, trying to send a mental message to her. _Don't just leave._

Sasuke stood up from his sitting position and with little dignity he had left, he called after her.

"Wait."

Unfortunately for Sasuke, Sakura pretended to have not heard him and kept on walking, forcing Sasuke to speak louder.

"Wait," He said louder. Still, she pretended to have not hear him.

Sasuke grinded his teeth together in frustration.

"Wait!" He yelled to her. Finally, satisfied she got the Uchiha to lower his pride, Sakura stopped and turned to look back at him, a pink eyebrow raised.

"Hm? What do you want? She said coldly. It wasn't as harsh as the last time she had talked to him. She stooped to his level now.

Sasuke could feel warmth spread from his neck to his face in the slightest and turned his head away from facing her.

Softly, he said,"Thanks."

In was barely audible but she heard it. Sakura was definitely surprised but she wouldn't show it to him. Sakura frowned and her brow furrowed in confusion. "What for?"

Sasuke's brow twitched in annoyance and a vein popped. "For...helping me."

Something clicked in Sakura's mind and her eyes widened a bit. "Oh, you mean when I wanted you guys to pass instead of me? Yeah, it was nothing. I simply did what anyone would have -"

"That's not what I meant," He cut in. Sasuke's face was hooded behind his bangs, but it was flushed red and he hoped Sakura didn't notice it. It would surely destroy what little pride he had left. Luckily, she didn't.

"Hm?" Sakura cocked her head to the side questionably.

Sasuke turned and started walking the opposite direction, towards his place.

"Tch. You know what I mean." Was all he said as he walked down the street.

"Wait!"

"Shut up."

Sakura's eyes trailed after him, still not getting what he meant. She was slightly pissed he just shut her up.

Then her eyes widened in recognition.

* * *

_**Before the test was over with Sakura and Sasuke...**_

_**FLASHBACK TIME: After Kakashi disappeared on them...**_

Sakura kneeled down and punched the ground in frustration, gritting her teeth together. There was a small crater

_Kuso! I almost had him, _She thought. She stood up and turned to walk out of the opened field to look for Kakashi when she heard a sound from behind her, like struggle.

She turned to look back and saw the man she despised the most struggling to free himself from the ground.

Sasuke struggled to move in his captivity and he looked very irritated. Sakura smirked at the sight and turned to walk away, but something stopped her.

She glanced back at him. For some reason, she couldn't stand that someone that killed so many innocent people couldn't get out of something as a simple Head Hunter Jutsu.

She frowned and before she knew what she was doing, she was already standing over him, glaring at him with irritation.

Sasuke glared right back and scowled. "What do you wa - hey! What are you - ?!"

"Shut up." Sakura's eyes were hooded as she gripped the top of his head firmly.

And with that, her enhanced strength got her to lift him out of the ground in one pull, gripping the top of his head.

Since Sasuke was a bit taller than her, she had to raise him up a little higher to get him on his feet and she let go of her skull-crushing grip. His clothes were covered in dirt and he bent down to dust himself off.

She lift without him knowing and when he finally looked up, he was surprised to see her already gone.

As Sakura ran through the forest, Mato spoke up.

_Ya know, you can't blame him for what he did._

Sakura stayed silent.

_**END OF FLASHBACK**_

* * *

She said softly, "Hm. I simply did what any teammate would have done. We're a team and we're supposed to help eachother."

She said it so softly, Sasuke barely even heard her. But he did and he pretended to not have heard.

Sakura turned away and walked back towards home.

Unbeknownst to those two, Kakashi heard the whole thing from his hiding place and there was a smile on his lips.

_Maybe their teamwork isn't incomplete after all, _He thought, sort of relieved.

* * *

**END OF THIS CHAPTER**

* * *

_**WOW! That was longer than my last one! I hope you enjoyed it! That was really long. Gomen if it took a while!**_

_**Thank you for reading my story! **_**^_^**

_**Was it good?**_

_**Was it too long?**_

_**Want another update?**_

_**Comment, follow and review!**_

_**I hope you guys read everything. Every word.**_


	4. Chapter 3

_Hello, my precious...esssss... 3 _

* * *

**Chapter 3:**

** Understood-**

**A Chance to Understand What She Meant**

_**"Mom, why do the best people die?"**_

_**"When you go to a garden, which flowers do you pick?"**_

_**"The most beautiful ones."**_

* * *

_**About 4 years in the future...after the 4th Shinobi War...with Naruto and Tsunade**_

"Ne, Granny Tsunade," Naruto said, his eyes foggy. There were traces of dried tears on his face. He was wearing his old green t-shirt with the red Hidden Eddies symbol on the front and his face had bandages where Sasuke had hit him. He still had _both_ arms intact, just bruised.

Normally, Tsunade would have beat the shit of of the young man, but she felt so hollow inside, she didn't have the strength to do it.

Right now, they were in the Hokage's make-shift office in the middle of reconstruction. After the final battle, Sasuke mutely decided he would break the genjutsu and set the Tailed beasts free in the process. When Naruto came to Tsunade, with Sakura's cold, pale body cradled in his arms, Tsunade thought she was just injured and she was unconscious. She could see the peaceful smile on her apprentice's face and she felt relieved to see her unharmed. Then she saw the hole.

Unfortunately for Tsunade, her fantasy was short lived.

* * *

_**FLASHBACK TIME: AFTER SASUKE BROKE THE GENJUTSU AND FREED EVERYONE...**_

_Naruto laid Sakura down, her head elevated on his lap as Tsunade calmly walked to him and kneeled down next to her, smiling a little. She was still thinking she was just injured. Her hands glowed minty green as she hovered her hands over the gaping hole in Sakura's chest._

_"Wake up, Sakura," She called gently, trying to get her to react. She wasn't. She didn't move a muscle._

_Tsunade wasn't even aware that there were tears building at the corners of her eyes. "Sakura, I said wake up!" She said louder._

_The tears streamed down Tsunade's face and dropped on Sakura's peaceful face. "Sakura Haruno, as your master, I command you to wake up!" She yelled to her, and her voice cracked. She has never yelled at Sakura, but it flew past Sakura's deaf ears._

_Naruto and Kakashi sadly watched the heart broken master of their teammate. Naruto started to cry silently as well._

_Tsunade continued to yell at her as she healed the gaping hole, until the wound was full healed. Tsunade used so much chakra to heal her student, she didn't leave a scratch._

_It showed how much she loved her apprentice. She didn't want to see her like this. It hurt just looking at her._

"Granny Tsunade."

_She glared up at Naruto through the tears. "Who. Did. This?" She asked in a menacing voice, pausing at every word. Naruto's eyes widened, shocked. If looks could kill, Naruto would be dead already. Her eyes were hooded but her eyes were dark and blood lust showed in them. She will hunt who ever done this to her student to the end of the Earth and give them the worst possible death imaginable._

_Naruto was silent for a moment. He didn't know what to do. Tell Tsunade Sasuke killed Sakura or keep silent?_

_To his relief, Kakashi spoke, his voice grim,"Gomen, Tsunade-sama. But I believe this is a bad time. For all of us."_

_Tsunade was breathing heavily and the light in her eyes dimmed. The blood lust in her eyes was replaced with sorrow and she looked down at Sakura's face, which was stained with her tears and Tsunade used her sleeve to gently wipe them off._

_She threw herself over Sakura, sobbing into her chest. "Sakura, please wake up. I didn't get to -"_

* * *

"TSUNADE-SAMA!"

Tsunade was startled and looked up at Naruto in shock. He never called her that before. Something must be really serious that he had to break her from her trance using her boss name.

"What's the matter, Naruto?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. She had started crying sub-consciously again. Images of her dead apprentice and the blood that soaked her hands flashed in her mind.

She looked back at Naruto, trying to forget the horrible memories.

"Gomen, Granny Tsunade. I know that," Naruto paused, trying to think of a way to express the situation. "It's been really hard on you. It's been really hard on all of us. Ino won't come out of her room and Lee has been running laps around the area without any breaks and crying at the same time. There's practically puddles of tears all over the streets." He added, attempting to lighten the mood. It worked. Sort of.

Tsunade's eyes brightened slightly in amusement, but it wasn't cheerful. She had a small smile on her face, but it was sad.

Naruto continued grimmly. "Anyway, that's not what I came to talk to you about."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow in question.

"Before Sakura died, she told me to tell you this." Naruto paused to clear his throat. "I quote, 'Tell Tsunade-sama that I finally understand'...or something like that."

Tsunade blinked. She wondered, _What could that mean?_

"What didn't you tell me earlier? " She asked.

Naruto stayed silent, looking away. His face showed sadness. Tsunade nodded in understanding.

Naruto changed the subject. "Do you know what that means?"

Tsunade shook her head at him. "No. I don't recall any-"

She stopped in mid-sentence and gasped. Now she remembered.

* * *

_**FLASHBACK TIME: IN TSUNADE'S OFFICE YEARS AGO...WITH SAKURA AND TSUNADE (A/N: This was right after Sakura's second Chunnin exams BTW. Jiraiya was temporarily sent back to the Hidden Leaf (without Naruto) and was assigned on a slightly dangerous mission but it wasn't serious. This is ****not**** an episode. It's just for the story.)**_

_After Jiraiya calmly left the office, Tsunade took a shot of sake out of anger._

_"That damn perverted asshole. Going against my orders like that."_

_Sakura spoke up from her master's side. "I don't see anything to be mad about, Tsunade-sama," She adviced._

_Tsunade looked at her with an eyebrow raised in question, still angry._

_"Well," Sakura muttered. "Jiraiya-sama got the job done, didn't he? I know he could have gotten hurt -"_

_"You don't understand, Sakura."_

_Sakura craned her head in 's_ _face turned serious as she gazed at her apprentice._

_"He risked his life for something so stupid, just for a disobeyed my orders and put his life at risk. He could have died."_

_"I understand that, Tsunade-sama. But I just think that-"_

_Tsunade shook her head at her, cutting Sakura off._

_"I don't want him to die," She said with her face hooded. "I don't want him to die for something like that. I don't want him to die at all. I don't want him to understand what it's like to die. Like Dan. And I hope you never have to either." She added. "I don't want my precious people to die."_

_Sakura was thoughtful as she listened to her master quietly._

_**End of Flashback**_

* * *

Naruto stared at Tsunade in shock as he watched her start crying again. She looked as if she was reliving a dream. Or a nightmare.

He walked over to her and had to tap on her shoulder a few times before she came to.

She blinked before she sniffled and wiped her tears away. She cursed under her breath and her voice trembled. "Damn it, I told her already. "

Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion. "You know what it means?"

Tsunade nodded in silence. Naruto wondered what she knew that he didn't but he didn't want to pry. She would tell him when she's ready.

She said quietly, "Let's just hope that she's in a good place with Dan."

* * *

_**Currently with Sakura...with Team 7**_

_Was it really worth coming back in time fix everything? To redoing all these stupid missions_? She wondered regretfully.

Sakura sweat dropped at Naruto, who was being attacked by the 7th missing cat they had to find that week. She watched Naruto scream in pain as he was getting scratched in the face. Sasuke continued to be silent as usual. She sighed.

* * *

_**Back with Naruto and Tsunade...**_

Naruto nodded hopefully and Tsunade dismissed him. He walked out of the make-shift office and started heading towards the cemetery.

He needed to talk to a certain someone and he had a feeling that they would be right there.

He face was full of sorrow and confusion and it really puzzled the villagers he passed. It was unnatural to see the normally cheerful and sunny young man and hero to be dark and sad. But they didn't know Sakura was gone, for she wasn't as well known as Naruto or Sasuke.

As he was walking, he passed by Hinata.

"Hi, Naruto-kun," She greeted him shyly. Her eyes were slightly swollen and her nose was red from crying.

Sadly, Naruto didn't even notice her as he passed by her and continued walking towards the cemetery, lost in his thoughts.

Hinata's gaze trailed after him in sadness. She knew he was probably going through the most pain. Sakura was his teammate and first love.

* * *

_**FLASHBACK TIME: AFTER THE FINAL BATTLE...RIGHT AFTER SAKURA'S DEATH**_

_Once Sasuke had broke the genjutsu and freed everyone, one of the Hyuga confirmed gravely that the battle was over and she came running to help Naruto, to see if he was injured. She hadn't noticed the sad tone in the Hyuga's voice and when he told her that it was best to stay back, she shook him off and ran. When she got to the sight, Naruto was hunched over someone's body, hands and face stained with blood, and crying hard. Sasuke stood off to the side, not awkwardly but guiltily. Kakashi was kneeling next to Naruto, trying to comfort him._

_As she got closer, she could see that it was the lifeless body of one of her closest friends, Sakura, laying deadly still and not breathing under Naruto. Her beautiful pink hair was splayed on the ground and even dead she looked graceful and pretty, despite the blood all over her chest, lips, and clothes. Her eyes were closed and there was a peaceful smile on her face._

_None of them noticed her, seeming to be engrossed in the moment._

_For some reason, a part of Hinata's mind felt relieved in a messed up way. She always, genuinely considered Sakura her best friend and never her love rival, but now that she was gone she actually felt like there was nothing to worry about._

_But the majority of her mind was swimming in deep sadness. She just lost one of her best friends and she knew how much Sakura meant to Naruto. Even though he wouldn't admit it, Sasuke too. She could see how much he cared about her although he tried to hide it. Sakura meant so much to everyone, of course including herself. It just wouldn't be the same without their kind, loud, pink haired medic friend._

_She started to cry silently, praying for Sakura and hoping that she rest in peace._

_**End of Flashback**_

* * *

_**With Naruto...**_

He stopped a few feet away and gazed at the young man he spent most of his life hunting down to bring him back. Naruto's face was calm. It didn't show anger, sadness, or even a little happiness that he was back.

His face was dead serious.

"Oi, Sasuke," He called. Sasuke's back was turned to him and he stood in front of a grave. Sasuke wore a black cloak over his bruised body. He had many bandages, around his head, one on his face, on his arms, _and_ he had both his arms.

Naruto could see there was a circle carved into the stone and a four petal cherry blossom carved under the circle. He read the words carved under the two symbols:

_Beloved by family, cherished by friends, and a shinobi who served her country well,_

_Sakura Haruno_

_R.I.P_

_1997- 2014_

_Shinobi_ _Medic_ _Daughter_ _Friend_

The circle was the Haruno family insignia and the four petal cherry blossom represented Sakura.

It had been days since the funeral for Neji and Sakura past. Their names had been engraved in the stone for K.I.A. Tenten and Lee constantly visited Neji's together while Naruto, Ino, and Tsunade visited Sakura's. Of course they visited each other's and put flowers on their graves too. Neji and Sakura's graves were loaded.

But Naruto, Ino, and Tsunade went at different times and rarely saw each other, wanting to be alone. He never saw Sasuke. Until now.

Sasuke didn't respond to him and he continued to stare emotionless at her grave.

Naruto walked up behind him and called again louder, "Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't show it but he was startled as he turned to look at Naruto blankly. Although he tried to hide it, Naruto knew he was hurting just as bad as he was and that was saying a lot. Sasuke's face was void of emotion but Naruto knew him better. He could see the bottomless sorrow that filled his dark eyes.

Sasuke answered the untold question Naruto had been wanting to ask him.

"I'm leaving today, Naruto," He answered.

Naruto nodded but didn't say anything. Naruto looked away from Sasuke and gazed sadly at the grave. There was a long moment of silence.

The long silence was killing Sasuke.

As if a flood gate had been opened, Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the collar of his shirt and there was a frantic look in Sasuke's eyes.

"Why aren't you saying anything?!" He yelled incredulously at him. Sasuke knew he killed Sakura and Naruto knew Sasuke did it too and yet he hasn't said a word about it since he broke the genjutsu. Not one word. And the guilt Sasuke felt was eating him from the inside.

Naruto smiled sadly at him. He gently put a hand on Sasuke's arm that grabbed his collar.

"It's okay, Sasuke. But there's nothing to say," Naruto said quietly.

Sasuke looked at him in disbelief. _Nothing to say? Nothing to say?! NOTHING TO SAY?! THERE'S SO MUCH TO SAY!_

"Besides, it's not your fault."

At this, Sasuke froze. His head hung low and his eyes were hooded as he let go of Naruto and turned away from him to gaze at Sakura's grave.

"It is my fault," He growled and he turned to glared at Naruto. How could Naruto say such a thing? He knew it was him who killed her, yet he denies it by saying it wasn't his fault. Is he really so important to Naruto that he would just let him pass by after killing his first love and their dear teammate?

"But," Naruto continued and Sasuke stopped glaring at him to raise an eyebrow in question. "I will admit that I am mad at you."

Sasuke didn't show any surprise, not that he was. Naruto was supposed to be mad at him in the first place. He killed Sakura for Kami's sake. And Sasuke felt like shit.

"Because she died without you returning her love."

Sasuke stiffened. There was a horribly tight feeling in his chest and he felt guilty, sad, and mad all at once. He turned away again, his back facing Naruto. "Naruto," Sasuke began and his hair fell over his face. "I wasn't going to tell you this but..." He trailed off.

Naruto's sad face turned into one of confusion. "Hm? What is it?"

Sasuke's hands balled into fists. "Yes, before my plans were to become the ultimate Hokage and rule over the Five Great Nations," He admitted. "But you know how I wanted to rebuild my clan?" He asked without looking at him.

Naruto nodded wordlessly.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "...I was going to propose to Sakura after I became Hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened as he gaped at Sasuke in disbelief and he sputtered. "Y-you were going to use Sakura as your..." He trailed off in horror.

Sasuke turned to look back at Naruto angrily. "Of course not! Who do you take me for?" He half asked-half yelled at Naruto.

"..."

"...Nevermind. Don't answer that," Sasuke sighed before adding, "I meant that I..." His voice faded and he felt his face turn hot. He quickly turned back to Sakura's grave, so Naruto wouldn't see his face.

Naruto craned his head curiously at Sasuke. "You meant what?"

Sasuke could still feel the heat in his face and he didn't say anything. He was afraid he might stutter. He fought himself whether to tell Naruto or not. In the end, the truth won.

"Naruto," he began and Naruto nodded to signify that he was listening intently. "I...l-l-l...Sakura," He finish with relief. Unfortunately, his voice had turned into a whisper, quieter than Hinata's.

Naruto's brow furrowed. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you. Could you repeat that?"

Sasuke ground his teeth together and he muttered through gritted teeth. "I," He began and took a deep breath, trying to come himself down. His heart was thumping at a thousand miles per second and it felt like it was about to rip out of his chest and run away. "Love...Sakura." He finished, his voice neutral and he finally turned to look at Naruto to see his reaction.

Naruto's eyes widened again, but they quickly narrowed at Sasuke in anger. Pure, fire red anger in his now Kyuubi-state eyes, vertical slit pupils perpetrating Sasuke's dark eyes.

The next thing Sasuke knew, he was thrown off his feet and knocked to the ground, the wind knocked out of him. He gasped, trying to make sense of what just happened. He looked up to see Naruto standing over at his feet, glaring at him and his mouth in a snarl.

"Don't joke like that, Sasuke!" He yelled angrily and Sasuke could see the tiniest of tears building at the corners of Naruto's eyes. "You're disrespecting Sakura!"

Now it was Sasuke's turn to yell. "It's true!"

"Then why? If you really loved her, why didn't you tell her? You knew she loved you with all her heart yet you pushed her away!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke.

"Because she deserved better!"

Naruto stared at Sasuke in surprise.

Sasuke took a deep breath before he continued steadily ."...The reason why I didn't tell her was because I knew she deserved someone better than a criminal like me."

Naruto continued to gazed at Sasuke. He never thought he felt that about Sakura. He knew that Sakura was important to Sasuke, but he hadn't thought that the reason why he kept pushing Sakura away was because he thought it was best.

Sasuke's face seemed to look distressed though.

"It wasn't just that though," he added. Still on the ground, he looked back at Sakura's grave.

"I never imagined the last thing she would tell me was that she didn't want to see you dead." He said with a half smile. "When I looked at her eyes, they reminded me of Itachi. Hard, unwavering. But I also saw strong anger and hate in them too." His voice had become hushed, pained from the memory.

Naruto's eyes widened. "What are you saying, Sasuke?" He knew what was coming but he didn't want to believe.

Sasuke paused before speaking . "Sakura resented me in her final moments."

* * *

_**Later that day...at night...**_

Sasuke stood in the entrance to the village as he gazed into his birth home. He was alone, nobody to see him off. It seemed as if the whole village was covered by storm clouds. The sky was completely gray, not a bit of sunlight shone through.

His face held no emotion as he fell into deep thought.

_This isn't right, _he thought_._

Somewhere in his mind and heart, he knew it wasn't supposed to end like this. With Sakura's death, Naruto so depressed and sad that he's ignoring Hinata and giving up on him, and him leaving the village. _Permanently_.

_It just doesn't feel right, _he thought_._

He turned and started walking out of the village.

_I don't want to be at home if it means the girl I love won't be there._

Too many painful memories.

* * *

**Hey guys!**

**This chapter is dedicated to all Sakura haters! Lately I have seen a lot of Sakura-hating on the Internet and _it's starting to piss me off_!**

**This chapter is about how much Sakura means to everyone and how it would be like if she were to be cut from the series.**

**They _need_ Sakura. Sakura's strong in her _own_ way.**

_**Anyways, thank you readers for looking at my story. I'm already starting the next chapter. I'll update soon!**_


	5. Chapter 4

**IT'S WAVE MISSION TIME! .***

* * *

**Chapter 4: **

**Mission: Inspiration**

* * *

_**With Sakura and Team 7...**_

Team 7 stood again in the mission room in the Academy, anticipating there next mission.

Sakura was so impatient and bored in the last few weeks, she lost count and forgot that this was the day they were going to receive _the _mission that brought them closer.

She waited for their turn, disinterested as Naruto babbled on and on about ramen. Her ears perked and she turned as Lord Third began to speak.

"Now then," he began, his voice raspy with age. "For Squad 7's next mission, we have several avaiable tasks. Huh?" Lord Hokage paused in surprise as he stared at the scroll. "Among them, babysitting the chief councilor's three year old-"

_Twitch_.

"-helping his wife do the shopping,"

_Twitch, twitch_.

"-digging up potatoes and-"

Naruto opened his mouth to interrrupt the old man but a girl's voice beat him to it.

"Excuse me, Lord Third."

Everyone in the room turned to Sakura in surprise. She couldn't take it anymore. Another boring-ass mission and she would go ballistic. Her eyes twitched in exasperation with every boring suggestion.

Sakura made sure to be careful with her words. "We all do respect, sir. But could you give us...a more difficult mission." She then added politely. "Please. They're too easy."

_She's right_, Sasuke thought.

Naruto backed her up without a second thought.

"Yeah! I know right! Those are all kiddy missions! We want a real mission," he said, serious.

Sasuke mutely agreed.

Lord Hokage spoke, his voice raspy with age. "It seems that you both still don't understand."

The Third Hokage began to explain the rubric and ranks of the missions and somewhere along his explanation, Team 7 lost interest and Naruto started babbling about different flavored ramen.

Just before the Hokage finished, he noticed their turned attention.

"So I had this tankatsu ramen yesterday and I was thinking miso ramen today-"

"Silence!"

Kakashi and Sakura turned to the Third Hokage.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Oh. Sorry," he apologized, although they didn't look guilty.

Naruto turned back to the Hokage and groaned.

"Ah! You always lecture me like you're my grandfather or something!" Naruto exclaimed and he crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke seriously. "But I'm not the little brat that used to pull pranks all the time. I'm a ninja now and I want a ninja mission!"

Sakura nodded.

Sasuke finally spoke up. "Yeah."

Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi, Lord Third, and everyone else in the room stared at Sasuke in surprise. He actually agreed verbally.

He frowned as he raised an eyebrow in irritation. "What?"

Everyone turned back to the Hokage, anticipating his answer.

The Hokage folded his hands together in front of him. "Hm. I see."

He smirked. "So, Naruto wants us to know he isn't a brat anymore. He's a _former_ brat. And _all_ of you, want a higher ranked mission, am I right?"

The three genin nodded.

"Alright." He smiled. "I'll give a C-ranked escort mission."

Sasuke and Iruka's eyes widened in surprise at the Hokage. Sakura's face remained bored and indifferent as before. She definitely wasn't surprised. She glanced at the door.

"Oooooh! I wonder who are we gonna escort? A princess? A lord?" Naruto wondered eagerly.

The Hokage fixed his gaze at the door too. "Come in," he called politely.

The sound of the wooden door sliding open rang and an old man with dark gray hair and glasses stood at the threshold with a glass bottle. He leaned against the door frame, his face slightly flushed. He was obviously a bit wasted.

He raised an eyebrow as his gaze fell to the three 12 year olds and he took a swig of the beer in the bottle.

"Kids?" he questioned. "Is that the best you can do? A short, stupid looking one..."

Naruto laughed and looked between Sasuke and Sakura.

"Hahaha! Who's the short, stupid looking one?" he asked.

Sasuke and Sakura blinked and walked to stand next to him, with Sasuke on his right and Sakura on his left.

He looked up and them.

"..."

"..."

"...I'LL DEMOLISH YOU!" Kakashi held Naruto back by his collar.

"Naruto, we're supposed to protect the client. Not demolish them."

The old man looked at Sakura. "Ooooh. An otaku ninja. That's new," he said. "Do you use all natural hair dye ? I recommend it. It won't make you hair so dry and it will give your hair volume. Are those split ends?"

Sakura blinked in shock. Otaku ninja? That was definitely a new one.

But it took her a moment to fully process what he had said about her though and her green eyes immediately turned to angry slits.

In an instant, she had a kunai in her hand and she took a step towards him, a dark aura emitting from her. She clenched her teeth.

Kakashi quickly grabbed Sakura's collar too.

"That goes for you too, Sakura," he warned.

She growled and took another dangerous step towards the old man. Kakashi had to dig his heels into the floor to slow her down.

_I don't care if he's old or that he's a client. I'm gonna cut him up! _she thought angrily. _I don't have split ends!_

The old man then turned to Sasuke and studied him. Sasuke stared back at the old man, gaze unwavering.

Finally, the old man said,"...Pretty boy ninja."

As if the world around them froze, no one said anything. The killing aura around them seized to exist as Sakura and Naruto's eyes widened in surprise at what he said. Sasuke blinked, trying to comprehend what he just said.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Then Naruto burst out laughing and Sakura followed in a fit of giggles, her hand coming up to cover mouth,trying to stop her laughter in vain. Their eyes were crinkled.

When Sasuke came to, seconds later, his eye twitched in irritation and his frown deepened.

"Ya know," the Hokage started. "I don't _have_ to give you the mission. I can give you another D-ranked-"

"No," Naruto and Sakura said in unison as Sasuke turned to the Hokage to glare at him.

_Isn't this the mission that brought us closer together? _Sakura wondered and she mentally nodded to herself.

The Third Hokage smiled. "Okay. You officially have a C-ranked mission. Escort this man to his home."

Team 7 looked expectantly at the old man and Naruto asked:

"So...are you a princess or something?"

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**I am** **sooooooooooooooo so so so so so so so sorry! I have decided to cut my chapters shorter. I know it's probably not what you want and it wasn't as exciting and I'm really sorry about that!**

**Thank you readers for reading my story and to those who were kind enough to comment and vote!**


	6. Chapter 5

**First off, I just wanted to say that in the last chapters, Sakura has already accepted Naruto and Sasuke as her teammates, but hasn't accepted them as her friends. She's having trust issues with Sasuke mostly because of what happened in her future and she wants to distance herself from Naruto because she doesn't want to hurt him.**

**Will she accept them? Or will she continue on her path alone?**

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

**The Demons Amongst the Mist**

* * *

They were still in the mission room as they introduced each other.

"I'm Tazuna," the old man introduced. "A master bridge builder and I must return to my country. I'm building a bridge there that will change our world and I expect you to get me there in one piece. Even if it means giving up you life."

Team 7 respectfully nodded and they all left to their homes to get ready for their first C-ranked mission.

* * *

_**In Sakura's room...**_

As Sakura packed her bag, her thoughts drifted back to their test a few weeks ago. She remembered how she helped Sasuke and she clenched her fists. Her brow furrowed and she gritted her teeth angrily.

_Shit, _she cursed.

She was softening up again. She will work with the Uchiha if she had to, but to soften up to them? To him?

Nope. She couldn't afford to. Her sole purpose being there, in this _time, _was to fix it. To give them a better future. Not to make peace with the cold blooded, revenge-obsessed traitor.

Now she was mad at herself. She let it happen. She let her guard down and put her walls down for him. Willingly_, _she might add.

Sakura ground her teeth together and turned to face her white pillow on her bed. She aimed her gloved fist and just as it made contact with the pillow's surface, it blew up in a burst of cotton and feathers.

She can't get close to him. Not if she wanted her heart to be broken a second time.

* * *

_**Near the entrance gate of Konoha...**_

After making distance,Team 7 and Tazuna stopped walking from the gate when Naruto screamed in joy and threw his arms in the air. "Yahoo! Alright! I'm a traveler now, believe it!"

Tazuna pointed to Naruto as he turned to Kakashi. "Am I really supposed to just trust my life to this runt? He's a joke."

Kakashi smiled at him, his lone eye crinkling. "Don't worry. I'm a jounin. You're in good hands."

Tazuna's words repeated in Naruto's mind and turned to yell at him.

Sakura and Sasuke stood silently to side, aloof expressions on their faces as the watched the scene play out. She hadn't looked at him since Team 7 had met up at the gate and she was still pissed-

Then Sakura felt it.

Her head snapped to look behind her, her senses on full alert, her face guarded. Her head swiveled side to side as she scanned their surroundings.

Sasuke noticed Sakura tense and glanced at her as she viewed their surroundings.

"Sakura?" he called. She continued her observation, ignoring him.

_It's them, _she thought. _It has to be._

She felt the chakra at the edge of her field of her vision, chakra wise that is.

She had a hard time remembering the names of who came after them, but she only remembered that they were from the Hidden Mist and that they were chunnin.

Sasuke called her again, curious and, unknowingly to him, worried, as Naruto and Tazuna argued. "Sakura...Sakura... _Sakura."_

Sakura snapped her head back to Sasuke and hissed,"_What?"_

Sasuke frowned as he stared at Sakura for a moment. "What are you doing?"

"...Nothing." _Damn!_

Sasuke scowled. "You hesitated. What were you doing?"

"Yeah, I'd like to know as well," Kakashi spoke up.

Kakashi noticed their chat and decided to join. He too, had noticed Sakura's oddly cautious behavior before and was curious, so he walked to them.

For a short moment, Sakura pondered whether she should trust them and tell Kakashi about the upcoming attack. Would it be best? Would he believe her? Would he think of her as a crazy or suspicious character? Can she even trust him? And her own teammates? Could she trust the future man that almost killed her and wanted to kill her master?

She decided no, she would not tell them anything.

She shook her head, doing her best to act casual. "I thought I heard an animal."

Sasuke didn't believe it for a second and opened his mouth to retort, but Kakashi cut in before him.

"Oh, okay. Whatever," Kakashi said, shrugging.

Sakura turned and walked over to Tazuna and Naruto, wanting an excuse to leave them by seeing if she could calm the two down.

Once she was out of earshot, Sasuke looked at Kakashi in confusion.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Why'd you stop me?"

Kakashi's gaze followed after Sakura and he watched her interact with Naruto and Tazuna comfortably as he spoke to Sasuke.

"As teammates, you must trust each other," he said wisely. "But first, you must gain that trust in order to put it to action and to have faith in one another."

After he saw how Sakura smiled at Naruto and Tazuna after they had calmed down, he turned to look at Sasuke.

"I believe Sakura will tell us when she is ready. I have faith in her that she will."

Sasuke scoffed, "You're thinking too much. Whatever. I don't even care anymore." He turned started walking down the dirt path, away from the other four. Then they followed.

A little while later, they were getting farther away from Konoha and as they strolled calmly down the road, Sakura noticed at the corner of her eye a puddle, but she kept her gaze forward.

She remembered it hadn't rained in days and that was where the chunnin appeared the first time.

They walked past it as if they hadn't noticed, but Sakura knew Kakashi and Sasuke noticed it too.

They went another four feet, when they attacked.

Two Hidden Mist ninja jumped out from behind them from the puddle and latched their shurriken-like chain around Kakashi.

Kakashi's eyes widened and he gasped as if he was surprised, "What?"

"Now!" One exclaimed.

Once they landed on the ground, the chain tightened around Kakashi as it retreated into the metal casing attached to their arms.

Then the other four saw blood. To Sasuke, Naruto, and Tazuna, Naruto and Tazuna's eyes widened from shock as they saw chunks of bloody body parts flying, while Sasuke only tensed and narrowed his eyes at the enemy. But unlike them, Sakura knew what happened and her face stayed passive and not surprised. She tensed and got ready to attack.

"K-Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled in shock.

The two Hidden Mist chunnin turned to Naruto, a psychotic look in their eyes.

"You're next."

The next thing Naruto knew, he saw the chain swung towards his face and he gasped.

Sakura let Sasuke react first.

He rushed forward and jumped in the air, throwing a shurriken that caught a link in the chain, causing it to go off corse and missing Naruto by centimeters. The shurriken stuck to a trunk of a tree, with the chain in between and Sasuke threw a kunai in the hole of the shurriken for good measure.

"What the hell?" One of the chunnin gaped, both struggling to pull their chain weapon out.

Sasuke landed on their outstretched arms and, leaning over and holding their arms for leverage, kicked both of their faces at the same time.

Sakura scoffed. _Show off._

Suddenly, one of the Mist ninja released the chain from their casing and and rushed towards Tazuna with metal claw hand outstretched to her.

Sakura immediately jumped in front of him, kunai in hand. Then Sasuke appeared in front of her, arms spread out as if to protect her.

But she knew he was trying to protect Tazuna and complete the mission. He probably thought she couldn't protect Tazuna herself. Did he not see the crater she made during their test?

At that thought, she snapped.

As if it was natural to her, her eyes narrowed as she lunged left then forward towards the chunnin. She dodged the claw, ducking left and as the Mist ninja passed by her, she lifted her leg, pumping a small amount of chakra into her heel, enough to knock him down, in a roundhouse kick to his back. He was knocked forward and he fell face first into a tree. Hard.

He slid to the floor on his stomach, unconscious.

She straightened up and calmly turned back, looking for the other enemy.

He was in a headlock in Kakashi's arm, unconscious.

She showed no surprise. _I knew it._

"Great job, Sakura," Kakashi said to her before turning to Sasuke, who stared at her in shock. "You too, Sasuke."

Sakura nodded and Sasuke didn't say anything as he quickly recovered from his shock. His thoughts drifted back to Sakura.

He hadn't thought much of it, but now that he has had a good view of it, he wondered.

Naruto stared at Sakura in shock and awe, not noticing Kakashi and the light stinging on his hand.

_When did Sakura get so strong? Or was she always like that? _the two younger boys wondered.

Kakashi, with the other Mist ninja still unconscious in his arms, turned to Naruto. "Sorry, Naruto. I didn't mean for you to get hurt. I just didn't think you would freeze up like that. Anyways, those Mist ninja..."

"So?" Sakura asked casually, although she knew already. She still had to act clueless and so far she noticed that she wasn't really doing a great job.

Kakashi nodded. "These guys are the Demon Brothers of the Hidden Mist. Both chunnin."

Sakura nodded. "They were after Tazuna too."

Everyone turned to look at Tazuna.

"So, care to explain."

They stared at Tazuna and he stared back for a moment before sighing.

"Alright. Fine. Ya got me. I'll tell ya."

* * *

_**SECONDS LATER AFTER EXPLAINING ABOUT POVERTY...**_

Kakashi nodded in understanding.

"I see. We'll discuss this later. First off, Naruto. The Mist nin had poison coating their weapons and it's spreading through you right now. We need to extract the blood from the wound before it spreads any further."

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

He looked down at himself and, finally noticing the pain, lifted his hand to see a cut.

Kakashi sighed, "We'll have to head back to Konoha to remove the poison. And delay the mission."

The three gennin didn't want to go back though.

But Sakura's thoughts were on Naruto's wound. Even if she had some of her strength, she still hadn't practiced her medical ninjutsu. If she could, she would have healed Naruto.

Suddenly, she remembered what was going to happen and she looked at Naruto.

"Naruto, wait!" she yelled.

It was too late. He had already stabbed the kunai into the wound. He grunted in pain, but didn't complain. Then he opened his mouth and made his big, inspiring speech.

He said to Tazuna through gritted teeth, "...Upon this wound, I make this pledge. Believe it! I'll complete your mission and protect you with this kunai." Then he turned back to look at the rest of Team 7.

"A ninja never gives up and neither will I. Don't you guys worry about me. I'll be fine. Now let's go."

Before Kakashi could say anything, Sakura spoke up. "Yeah...The way you took out the poison was cool and all, but if you loose anymore blood, Naruto, your going to die from blood loss," she said bluntly.

There was a moment of awkward silence and a bird chirped.

Naruto trembled as he turned blue and broke into a cold sweat.

Sakura came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Seriously, you should stop the bleeding. Now."

Suddenly, Naruto started flailing his arms and running around. He screamed.

They all sighed.

* * *

_**SECONDS LATER...**_

Sakura kneeled on the ground as she was bandaging Naruto's hand. He sat on the ground as she was frowning and lecturing him.

"-Seriously, Naruto. Like I said earlier, you don't need to do that. If you want to become Hokage, you'll have to live to see that day! You shouldn't be so reckless."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, grinning. "Gomen, gomen, Sakura-chan."

When Naruto had stabbed the kunai into the cut, he made the blood spill faster out of the wound and extracted the poisoned blood. He had given his little speech and Sakura had to hide a smile. She was really proud of him. Even when he was reckless and stupid, he was noble and honorable.

When Sakura had walked over to him to hims with gauze and started wrapping the wound, she noticed the wound slowly closing.

_Must be Kurama, _she thought. She knew the jinchiriki had their benefits and this was one of them.

Sakura sighed as she finished wrapping the wound, "Whatever. Just be careful next time."

Naruto blushed as Sakura got up and grinned even wider. "Okay, Sakura-chan!"

She rolled her eyes and they made their way over to Kakashi and Sasuke, who stood in front of a tree, the two enemy ninja tied around it.

"So what do we do with the old man?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head and sighed, "Well, for now I've decided that we just escort Mr. Tazuna to the Hidden Mist. Then we'll see from there."

They all nodded, Tazuna's mouth turning to a frown.

* * *

_**Later On A Boat...**_

"Hey," Sakura, pretending to be curious when, honestly, she didn't give a fuck because she already knew, asked to Tazuna. "Why are you being targeted?"

Tazuna looked at her. "Pretty straightforward, aren't ya? You know, sticking your nose into other people's business is annoying and rude."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "You're the one who brought us into this mess. Because of you, Naruto could've _died. _The least you could do is answer my question."

Tazuna didn't say anything and stared at her for a short moment. Then he nodded. "The Mist wasn't always in poverty," he started.

He explained how the Mist had become poor and how the famous businessman, Gato, had caused all this and took control over the islands.

"...I have been constructing a bridge that would connect to the mainland."

Sakura nodded thoughtfully. "I see. So, the reason why Gato's been after you is because if you finish that bridge, he'll loose control."

"Exactly," Tazuna agreed.

"And those guys we fought were working for Gato," Sasuke said.

Kakashi spoke up. "I don't understand. If you knew that he was dangerous, knew he would send ninja, why did you hide that from us?"

Tazuna nodded. "I told you how the Land of Waves is a poverish nation. Even our nobles have little money. The common people building this bridge, they can't afford an A or B ranked mission. Too expensive. If you end the mission when you drop me ashore, there will be no bridge. They'll assassinate me before I get home."

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura called.

Kakashi looked at her and nodded.

"I guess we have no choice," he sighed. "We'll have to keep on guarding you."

Naruto shouted out in joy, but was quickly shushed be the boat driver.

Tazuna stared at them in surprise, but said nothing.

_I didn't even have to use the guilt-building story, _Tazuna thought before hiding a smirk. _Suckers._

A few minutes later, they finally docked off at the port and started off to bring Tazuna to his home.

They trekked through the forest for a few minutes until Naruto suddenly threw a kunai into a nearby bush, yelling, "Over there!"

When Naruto ran to see what it was, he found a frightened snow hare trembling, back against a tree and kunai embedded between the small space between its ears.

Tazuna sighed,"All this fuss over a rodent."

Sakura walked over to Naruto as he cradled the rabbit in his arms and apologized.

"I'm sorry, Little Rabbit! I'll take you home and you could stay with me!" Naruto babbled.

"Baka, look what you did!" she said, gesturing to the rabbit. "You traumatized the poor guy. I bet his owner's worried."

Naruto looked at her curiously. "How do you know someone owns him?"

Sakura hid her panic. _Crap, I did it again!_

"Uh," she hesitated. "Well, _obviously_ because it's already white. Snow hares only turn white when it's winter and, since it's not winter, it must have been kept inside. Duh!" she explained, trying to sound casual.

Naruto gazed at her suspiciously and Sakura smiled innocently, refraining from looking away.

Then Naruto shrugged and she sighed in relief. Naruto let the rabbit go and they continued on the way.

_I_ _really_ _need_ _to_ _be_ _more_ _careful_ _with_ _my_ _words_, she thought.

As they hiked down the dirt path, Sakura recognized the area and immediately yelled, her body tensing and face guarded.

"Get down!" she cried and dropped to the ground.

They did and a giant blade spun right over their heads and embedded itself into a tree.

As they straighten up, a man appeared and landed on the sword.

"Well, well. Look what we have here."

Sakura gazed up at the S-ranked rogue ninja. "...Zabuza...Peach, right?"

Behind the bandage that masked his face, Zabuza gritted his teeth in irritation and narrowed his eyes angrily at the pink haired girl.

"It's Momochi!" he yelled at her and jumped down to the ground, grabbing his sword. "I was considering holding back on you kids, but now I'm thinking of pummeling you."

Sakura's guard was up in a second and she reached into her pouch.

"Stay back, Sakura," Kakashi warned, stopping her. "Let me handle this."

Zabuza's gaze switched Kakashi. "If it isn't Kakashi of the Sharingan," he sneered. "It's a pleasure to meet you. We were warned to immediately kill you if we ever met you."

Kakashi didn't say anything and Sakura glanced at Sasuke. She knew that he was most effected by the new information.

He was looking at Kakashi, deep in thought.

The scene played out just like before. Sasuke was mentally breaking down and freaking out and Kakashi made his noble speech about protecting them. Kakashi and Zabuza started fighting and Kakashi got trapped in the Water Prison jutsu. Sasuke and Naruto worked as a team to defeat the water and clone Zabuza made as he held the prison. As all this happened, Sakura stood aside in front of Tazuna, to protect him.

_I_ _can't_ _let_ _them_ _have_ _all_ _the_ _fun,_ she thought.

"Naruto," she called and he glanced back to her, confidently grinning. This was the moment when Naruto and Sasuke were going to plan on the attack with a single glance. "Give me a turn!"

Still grinning, he nodded. "Sure thing Sakura-chan!"

Sakura and Naruto switched places, Sakura being in the outer side of the protective formation and Naruto in it.

"Try me, girly," the Zabuza clone sneered.

She narrowed her eyes at him and cracked her knuckles.

They both came at each other. They dashed at each other and the Zabuza clone swung his sword horizontally like a bat and, as if seeing it in slow motion, Sakura slid under it on her behind like matrix. He stopped and slashed it behind to her and she ducked forward, hitting the ground. Then Sasuke joined in. He took out a fuuma shurriken and threw it at Zabuza. Zabuza dodged, making him move away from Sakura as she stood up and her eyes widened. The fuuma shurriken missed her head as it flew centimeters from her eyes.

_Whew_, _that_ _was_ _close, _she thought and sighed in relief as she turned to the Zabuza clone. She glanced to the side at Sasuke, eyes narrowed. _That_ _shit_-_head_ _could've_ _made_ _me_ _blind_!

"Oi, Sasuke, " Naruto called to him as he stood in front of Tazuna. "Watch where you throw that thing!"

Sasuke didn't say anything.

Now it was her turn and she was on offense.

The Zabuza clone swung again and brought the sword down. Sakura dodged again and swung a punch at his stomach. The clone dodged.

_This_ _girl's_ _stronger_ _than_ _she_ _looks_, Zabuza thought from his position next to the in prisoned Kakashi. Zabuza could feel it in his gut. The way she fought, it was as if she knew their movements already. Like she had 17 years worth of experience. It also looked as if Sakura's chakra-enhanced fists were gonna make some big, purple bruises on him.

Sasuke came up behind the Zabuza clone and attempted to kick him. The clone dodged it too and punched Sasuke, hard enough to make him fall on the ground. Zabuza brought up his blade over head to kill Sasuke, and for the first time in a long time, Sasuke actually thought he was going to die.

Naruto's eyes widened as he gasped, "Sasuke!"

Sasuke's eyes widened by millimeters, and he felt the fear and panic rise in his chest. The clone brought the sword down and Sasuke shut his eyes tightly, awaiting his painful, bloody death.

He didn't feel a thing. He didn't feel pain, not in the slightest bit.

Seconds later, he still didn't feel a thing.

Was he dead? Did the clone swiftly kill him to make it painless?

No, that wasn't it. Sasuke slowly opened one eye and looked up to see red and pink. Sasuke's eyes widened.

Sakura kneeled right in front him, back bent over him as she held the sword between her palms. She was so close that her hair brushed his nose.

She gritted her teeth as she struggled a bit to keep the blade between her palms, her hold on the blade shaking.

She glanced over her shoulder at him. "Are you gonna just sit there or are you gonna get out of the way?" she snapped.

Sasuke blinked and quickly got up and leaped away to stand by Naruto.

Sakura looked back at the clone and Sakura's grip faltered, causing the blade to slip down between her hands and close in on her face. Instinctively, she dodged her head right, making the blade cut into her left shoulder and her grip tightened.

She sucked in a breath to refrain from yelping and flinched as the sword cut in a little deeper into her shoulder. Quickly, she used her enhanced strength to lift the sword off her and threw it to the side. She leaped away and back next to Tazuna. Sasuke and Naruto were next to her in second.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto called, gazing worriedly at the gash on her shoulder. Blood welled from the wound and ran down her arm and chest. "Are you okay?"

Sakura breathed heavily and nodded. She put her hand on her wounded shoulder, clamping down on the bleeding wound. Her shoulder stung and burned from the pain from the deep cut.

The Zabuza clone chuckled. "I guess that all you've got, girly."

Sakura's eyes had turned to angry slits and something in her snapped. Forget about the bloody cut. She wouldn't hold back. She wasn't. "Aw hell naw! It's on now!" Sakura growled.

_Shaaaaa_! Inner roared in her mind. _Beat_ _him_ _to_ _a_ _pulp_!

Sakura felt a burst of energy run through her like a shockwave. She was behind him in a second. "Don't underestimate girls," she snarled, her eyes glaring menacingly.

Before the clone could react, she socked him in the back of head so hard, his head bent at an odd angle and he dissipated into water.

Sakura panted heavily and her eyes locked on the real Zabuza. She ran as fast as a cheetah with her left fist raised at Zabuza, eyes zeroing on him.

She jumped and threw her fist at his face, but he didn't have to dodge. She missed completely, the fist passing his face by inches. Her face fell, with all rage and confidence gone, and Zabuza smirked behind the mask. But, as if she had meant to miss him, she smirked and her fist continued on it's path, she, bending over and punching the water's surface, releasing her chakra.

The water immediately broke and a geyser of water erupted right under and around Zabuza and Sakura, causing both of them to be completely surrounded by one circular wall of water. Zabuza looked behind him for her, but she was already gone.

Zabuza's eyes quickly scanned around himself, his mind racing.

_Not_ _there_. _She's_ _not_ _behind_ _me_. _She_ _should_ _be_ _caught_ _in_ _here_ _with_ _me_. Then he sensed it and he looked up, but it was too late.

Sakura's fist met his face.

From Naruto and Sasuke's point of view, they could see that Zabuza was surrounded by a wall of water. Then suddenly, he flew straight through it and flipped painfully over the ground several times. Finally, he stopped when his back slammed into a tree, turning him unconscious.

The water prison on Kakashi dispersed and he landed awkwardly onto the water. Sakura stood next, drenched in water.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you okay?" she asked.

He nodded. "I'm fine. Thank you, Sakura."

She nodded and looked Zabuza and started to walk to him. Then, out of no where, needles penetrated his neck, blood spurting out of his wound and he fell over. A familiar masked figure came into view and appeared in front of Zabuza defenseless body.

It was lady with long black hair in in two ponytails and a bun. She wore attire from the Hidden Mist, wearing a mask.

The person bowed, voice sounding like a young tone. "Thank you. I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time, waiting for this chance to finally take him down."

Kakashi studied her. "Judging by your mask, I'm assuming that you're a tracker ninja from the Hidden Mist."

She straightened herself and nodded.

Naruto gasped and stepped in front of Tazuna. "Oh no! A tracker ninja!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You don't even know what a tracker ninja is, Naruto. She's not a threat to us." She gave a suspicious look at the lady as she said the last part. Sakura stepped forward and asked, "May I check if he's dead?"

The lady nodded and motioned to Zabuza's still body. "Why of course."

Sakura calmly walked towards them as if she wasn't afraid of a dead body, unlike the petrified Naruto and stunned Sasuke, both who stood frozen next to Tazuna.

Sakura passed the lady cautiously, sending her a suspicious look behind her back, and kneeled down to press her fire and middle finger onto Zabuza's vitals.

Sakura blinked and stood up. "No pulse," she confirmed. She stared up at the lady blankly for a moment before walking back to Tazuna.

The lady nodded. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must now take Zabuza's body to burn."

And with that, the lady bent down to carry Zabuza's body around her shoulders and disappeared in a breeze.

Then Kakashi fainted.

Sakura was there just in time to catch him and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Come on," Tazuna said as he motioned them into the forest. "My home is nearby. He can rest there."

As they trekked through the the trees, Sakura's own sight became blurry and her breathing heavy.

Noticing the change, Sasuke was at her side.

"Are you okay?" He looked not at her face, but at the gash on her shoulder. It was still bleeding heavily through her shirt, staining the top, left half of her chest.

She nodded, but her eyes showed drowsiness and pain. She felt her legs give out and she would have almost collapsed on the ground, if Sasuke hadn't caught her. Naruto grabbed Kakashi.

As Naruto put Kakashi's arm around his shoulder and Tazuna came to help carry him, Sasuke somehow managed to get Sakura to let him give her piggyback ride.

Naruto, Tazuna, with Kakashi's arms around their shoulders, and Sssuke, with Sakura's arms around his shoulders and on his back, started walking again and Sakura felt drowsiness from the blood loss take its toll on her. She could feel relaxing darkness slowly take over her.

Before she fell into the darkness, she whispered in Sasuke's ear tiredly and asked, "Why are you helping me?"

Sasuke glanced back at her, surprised she hadn't fallen asleep yet. "Why?" he repeated.

Sakura's tired eyes showed vulnerability and sorrow. "Don't you think I'm annoying?"

As she spoke, she remembered the first time Sasuke had attempted to kill her. At the time, she was still foolishly in love with a revenge obsessed man and her heart and mind wouldn't let her give up on him. He had told her she was annoying so many times and tried to kill her, but why wasn't this Sasuke trying to kill her too? Why was this one helping her? Carrying her? "If you do, then why are you helping me?" she whispered.

"I think you're annoying," Sasuke replied, still looking at her, and Sakura felt her heart drop. "but that doesn't mean I can't help you and return the favor."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "Huh?"

Sasuke turned back to the path in front of him as he trailed behind Tazuna and Naruto. "You saved me, this is the least I could do in return."

Sakura stared at the back of Sasuke's head in shock for a moment, but she was to tired to care anymore and leaned into Sasuke's back. Before she let herself fall into the inviting darkness, she mumbled, "Thank you." Then she let her eyes droop down and almost fell right asleep when she heard Sasuke speak again.

Sasuke scoffed, "Idiot, that's supposed to be my line." Then he muttered quietly, "Thanks for saving me."

After he spoke, Sakura fell into a deep sleep, unknowingly smiling softly.

* * *

_**To** **be** **continued**..._

* * *

_**I'M SO CONFUSED!**_

_**I DON'T KNOW IF I SHOULD KEEP THEM LONG OR SHORT!**_

_**ANYWAYS…REVIEW AND STUFF IF YOU WANT ANOTHER CHAPTER!**_

_**THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!**_


	7. Chapter 6

***WARNING:_ SHORT CHAPTER DEAD AHEAD. _**

**_CAUTION TO ANGER AAND DISAPPOINTMENT IS ADVISED.*_**

* * *

**CHAPTER 6:**

**The Seeds of Emotion**

* * *

When Sakura finally awoke, she found herself in a different room and laid snugly in a futon. She slowly blinked and without moving her head, took her time in taking in her unfamiliar surroundings. Her throat was dry and she heard muffled voices from a different room in the house. She smelled the strong scent of rubbing alcohol and felt the warmth of the comforter over her sore, stiff body. She felt something cold and moist on her forehead, which was probably a moist towelette, she thought, seeing at the corner of her eye a bowl of water to her left.

_This isn't my room_, she thought. _What happened?_

Then she remembered. She had been fighting off Zabuza, and helped Kakashi escaped his Water Prison Jutsu. She also had injured herself when she had rescued Sasuke, which ended with a deep gash on her left shoulder. She remembered hazily of being carried on someone's back to someone else's-she thought-Tazuna's house and talking to that person(**A/N: That person is that ****first someone** **who was carrying her on his back. AKA: ****Sasuke****.**).

_Ah, Sakura_, Mato said. '_bout time you woke up, but it's pretty early. It's only been several hours. You should go back to bed. You need more rest._

Sakura only grunted in response. Slowly, she moved her arms stiffly, groggily making them push the comforter off her and push her up into a sitting position, catching the cool towelette from her forehead as it fell. But the second she put pressure on her left arm, white hot pain shot up her arm to her shoulder, making her wince and drop back into the futon. She gasped for breath for a moment, frozen with shock. She hadn't expected that, but she should have.

She was badly injured because of Sasuke. Looking up at the ceiling, she thought back to the time she saved him. _Why _did _I do that?_ she questioned herself. To be honest, she had not been thinking, which is pretty weird because she is a very cautious and thoughtful person. When she had seen Sasuke in trouble, her mind just went blank. She just acted on instinct, like it was natural, but she remembered the horrible gut wrenching feeling she had felt at that moment, seeing Sasuke about to die. She remembered her eyes widened in shock, her pupils dilating. She didn't know what she was doing until she blinked and found herself standing in front of Sasuke, pouring her chakra into her hands to shield her palms from Zabuza's blade. Then she felt her hidden controlled fury fueled into a uncontrollable raging fire, and started fighting his clone blinded by anger.

Sakura sighed before she gently rolled over on her right side, careful not to move her left shoulder too much. When she completely had rolled over on her side, Sakura finally noticed the head of dark spiky hair and her eyes widened, a scream clawed its way up her throat, but her mouth was wide open in a silent scream.

There laid Sasuke, almost half of his body out of the futon, and his bed hair a tussled mess compared to his usual neatly spiked hair. pared to his usual neatly spiked hair. His face was so peaceful. Funny how sleep can make you look younger because he looked as peaceful and innocent as a baby, although Sakura kept in mind how he would turn out when he got older and she pushed the innocent thought from her mind. His face was so close to hers that she felt his warm breath fan her face. If she wanted to she could steal a kiss from him and he would never know. Sakura felt herself starting to lean forward. They were less than an inch apart and she-

Sasuke drowsily opened his eyes and yawned.

_Is it mornin_\- Sasuke's eyes widened, his pupils dilating, as he noticed how close he was to Sakura's sleeping face. He quickly sat up and backed away from her in surprise. He watched her for a moment, suspicious that she awoken before he had and had moved closer to him on purpose, but Sakura's breath was even, her face was calm and innocent and her body relaxed. Sasuke shook his head, shrugging it off as he reached for the comforter and gently pulled it over her body. He reached for the cool towelette that had fallen from her forehead and leaned over Sakura, reaching across her, so he could dunk it into the water bowl on the other side of her. He sloppily laid it on her forehead and stood up to leave, closing the door behind him and heading to the bathroom.

Sakura's brow twitched in irritation. _You're supposed to wring it, you idiot._

Sakura waited for a few seconds, waiting to see if Sasuke would come back. When he didn't Sakura slowly, quietly, used only her right arm to push herself into a sitting position. She stayed silent for moment, her face blank.

**.**

**.**

**.**

Then she felt her face suddenly burst with warmth and dropped her head into her hands, blushing. She frowned. _What is _wrong _with me?_

The second Sasuke's eyes opened, she had shut hers and did her best to relax both her body and her breathing, putting everything she had to not flush with embarrassment. She was so grateful that Sasuke's awakening had stopped her, otherwise she wouldn't know what to do if she had. Her heart was beating so hard, she felt like Sasuke could hear it.

_She shouldn't be feeling this way. She couldn't be. After what he has done to her, she shouldn't forgive him. Not unless she wanted to be heartbroken again._

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED.**

* * *

**So Sakura now is redeveloping some feelings for Sasuke.**

**Interesting.**

**But there will always be something in your life that will screw with you and fuck everything.**


	8. Chapter 7

**I KNOW HAKU IS A BOY!**

_**I'VE WATCHED NARUTO MY WHOLE LIFE, I THINK I WOULD KNOW BY NOW THAT HAKU IS, AS A MATTER OF FACT, A FLIPPING PRETTY BOY!**_

**SO STOP CORRECTING ME, I SAID HE WAS A GIRL HERE FOR A REASON.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 7: **

**The Lazy, The Mission, and The Commander?**

* * *

After a short moment of cooling down, Sakura walked down the hall, down the stairs and into the dining room, where Naruto was munching on his meal, his back turned to her. A dark haired woman-Tsunami? Sakura thought unsure, stood behind the kitchen counter watching him with a smile.

Tsunami's smile disappeared for a moment when she looked up at her in surprise, but it appeared again when she realized who it was, her face looking relieved. "Look who's awake."

That made Naruto look up from his food, craning his head towards her. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed happily, grinning. He turned in his chair to turn his body to her. "Glad you're awake! How's your shoulder?"

Sakura opened her mouth to respond, but Naruto continued. "Oh! And the lady here is Tsunami," he introduced. "She's the old man's daughter."

Sakura bowed to Tsunami. She apologized, "Thank you for letting us stay here, Tsunami-san. I sincerely apologize for troubling you."

Still smiling, Tsunami waved a pale hand at her dismissively. "So polite," she noted. "It's no trouble at all. It was the the least I could do for getting my father here safely. Thank you for that by the way. I'm so grateful that you were kind enough to continue your mission even though we couldn't afford to pay for the proper rank."

Sakura nodded and turned back to Naruto. "To answer your last question, my shoulder does feel a bit better, just really sore. I don't think I should move it for a while."

"I'm glad," Naruto sighed in relief.

"What happened to Kakashi-sensei?" she asked. "Where is he?"

Naruto explained, "After you two fainted, Tazuna invited us to stay with him. A while after we got here, and put you in the same guest room, but after a while you caught a fever. Tsunami had to put you in different rooms because you might get Kaka-sensei sick. Now he's staying in the room down the hall from yours."

After she thanked him, Sakura made her way to Kakashi's room, and just as she slid the door open, it was the same moment Sasuke was about to open the door.

"Ah, Sasuke, how's Kakashi?" she asked him, doing her best to act normal.

"He's fine," he said without looking at her. Sasuke pushed past her and headed downstairs and to towards the living room.

Her gaze followed him in confusion. Sasuke wasn't this weird, but this was Sasuke. He's always cold, she reasoned to herself, shrugging it off before she shut the door to Kakashi's room behind her.

The room was dark, the only light coming from the small window at the center of the wall across from the door she stood in front of. It was morning, she could tell by the way sunlight faded through the cloudy, gray sky.

Kakashi laid in a futon in the center of the room, his still body tucked neatly. Sakura quietly made her way to him, kneeling down at his side.

"Kakashi-" _Wait. This is the perfect chance to see what's under his mask_! she realized. Sakura slowly reached out her hand to his mask. She held her breath.

"Sakura, what are you doing?"

Almost jumping out of her skin, Sakura's hand retreated to her lap in a flash. "Kakashi-sensei, you're awake!" she blurted out, terrified. He started to try to sit up and Sakura reached out to help him.

"Sakura, are you okay?" he questioned. His gaze moved to her bandages. "Your shoulder..."

"I'm fine, Kakashi-sensei, but how are you?"

"I've felt better."

"Kakashi-sensei!"

They turned to see Naruto and Sasuke standing at the door, a tray of food in Sasuke's hands. Sasuke put the tray aside as they walked over to them and knelt down at Kakashi's other side, across from Sakura.

"How are you feeling?" Naruto asked.

"I've felt better," he repeated. "but enough about me. There was something else I wanted to talk about with you guys."

"Kakashi-sensei, I know Zabuza's alive."

His eyes widened as he turned to Sakura in shock. "When?"

"You said once that a ninja must see through deception or look underneath the underneath," she said. Sakura explained, "When I had asked the lady if I could check the body. I had noticed she used the senbon needles to pierce a certain spot on the neck that could temporarily stop the heart for a few seconds. I was suspicious if she was working with Zabuza, since senbon aren't fatal unless purposely aimed at a fatal when she took the body, I confirmed it. Normally, hunter ninja take care of the body on the spot, in order to leave no room for mistakes." Then she added, scoffing and rolling her eyes, "That, and the fact that he didn't fight her. I didn't hit him _that_ hard."

"Well, great observation skills, Sakura," Kakashi praised, smiling. _She remembers._ "I'm proud of you."

Sakura felt her cheeks go warm, and she quickly turned away, embarrassed.

"Hold up! You think Zabuza's alive?" Naruto echoed, his eyes wide in disbelief.

Sasuke question calmly, "You think Zabuza's alive?"

"That what I just said, _Teme_!"

"Shut it, _Dobe. _Not now_._"

Sakura turned to them and retorted, "I don't _think_, I _know_."

"Naruto, Sasuke, there's a saying for ninjas, you know. 'Hesitation leads to disaster'," Kakashi warned.

Sakura nodded and agreed, "Yeah, we need to prepare to battle Zabuza in the future."

"I taught you teamwork," Kakashi stated.

They waited for him to continue.

"And?" Naruto asked, raised an eyebrow.

Kakashi smiled, confessing, "I don't know. That's all I got."

They sweatdropped.

"But," he continued. "You guys saved me. You've all quickly grown."

A small smile appeared on Sakura's face, and a smirk on Sasuke's as Naruto grinned. "Glad ya noticed, Kakashi-sensei! Now it's gonna get interesting!" he exclaimed happily.

"Nothing is interesting," a small, young voice spoke up.

Team 7 turned to the door in surprise to see a young boy standing in the doorway.

"Inari!" Tsunami yelled after him, quickly following behind him. "What are you-Oh! Kakashi-san, you're awake! How are you-"

"I'm fine," he repeated again.

She gaze him a worried look before resuming to speak to Inari. "Inari, that was rude! What sort of greeting is that?"

Tazuna walked in. "What's going on here?" he questioned gruffly, then his eyes fell on Inari and he smiled, spreading his arms out, ready to hug him. " Inari! Where've you been?"

Inari ran up to him and greeted, "Welcome home, Grandpa!"

Tsunami continued, "Inari, these ninja escorted your grandpa!"

Tazuna waved her off, grinning. "It's okay, it's okay," he said, patting Inari's head. "Right Inari?"

Team 7 noticed how the little boy glared at them under the shadow of his hat. Then he turned to Tsunami and blurted out,"Mom, these guys will die. There's no way they can stand up to Gato and win."

Naruto was standing up in a flash. "Say what, you little brat!" he yelled. He pointed a finger at him. "Now listen up! I'm a superhero who's gonna become an awesome ninja named Hokage in the future! I don't know who if it's Gato or Chocolate or whatever, I'm not worried about those guys at all!"

Inari's face became hooded as he contradicted, "Huh, a hero. That's ridiculous! There's no such thing!"

"What did you say?" Naruto shouted as he made an attempt to lunge at him, but Sakura was behind him in a second. Her arms looped under his shoulders and hooked up to prevent him from attacking Inari.

"Naruto! You can't attack civilians!" she whispered.

Inari started to leave, but he looked over his shoulder at them to warn, "If you don't want to die, you better hurry up and go home." Then he left.

They stayed silent for a moment, Team 7 wondering why the boy wanted them to leave and said that they would die if they stayed.

Sakura noticed Naruto grit his teeth and tremble with anger. Naruto trudged out of the room and Sakura already knew that he went after him.

* * *

Kakashi told them that they would start training that afternoon and they went their own way, Sakura going to her room.

Sakura leaned against the wall next to her window and gazed out the window, deep in thought. There wasn't much to see through the window, but she focused on a mark on a tree as she spaced out.

_Neh, Sakura, what are you thinking about? _Mato said.

_I don't know, you tell me,_ she sneered, smirking. _You're the one who can read minds._

Sakura heard Mato sigh. _Just because I have that power, doesn't mean I will abuse it. I have my limits, you know?_

_Whatever_, she retorted. _I was just thinking about what I could do in the spare time I have. Before Orochimaru shows up and fucks everything up. I mean, yeah I could train hard and stuff, but I feel I could make better use of my time. Or do other things than that._

Mato was silent a moment, contemplating. Then she spoke, _I see your point. You can't just lazy around during your free time-_

_I don't-_

She continued without missing a beat, _How about this? From now on, consider me your team leader. Your _commander_. Today, your mission: Help Zabuza and Haku._

_What? Why? They're working with Gato._

_They don't deserve this_, Sakura, Mato answered.

She asked suspiciously, _What's their reason?_

_...It's not my story to tell_.

Sakura frowned, thinking. ..._Fine. I'll help them, but _only _if I can get the truth out of them sometime, somehow._

She could tell Mato was smiling when she replied, _Thank you_.

Sakura smirked. _Yeah, I know I'm awes-_

"Sakura."

* * *

**TBC.**

**LOL. I KNOW I'M EVIL.**

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	9. Chapter 8

**This is just for you, CherryblossomWarrior! ;)**

* * *

**CHAPTER 8:**

**To Experience Another's Anger and the Seeds of Suspicion**

* * *

Startled, Sakura stiffened at the familiar voice, and turned around to calmly meet Sasuke's gaze.

"Yes?" she stammered.

"Kakashi sent me to tell you we're about to head out," he reported. "Just wanted to let you know. What are you doing?"

Sakura shook her head as she walked across the room. "Nothing. Come on, let's go," she said and Sasuke stood aside, so she could pass him.

As she walked down the hall, square shouldered, Sasuke's gaze trailed after her. That memory flashed in Sasuke's mind and replayed.

* * *

_**FLASHBACK TIME: A few hours before Sakura awoke, after the battle.**_

* * *

When they finally got to Tazuna's house, after discussing with his daughter, she lead them to the extra rooms and let them put Sakura and Kakashi in a different room, so she could treat their injuries. Sasuke and Naruto would have offered to help, but there wasn't much they could do. The didn't know what to do.

Several minutes later, Tsunami reported to them that Kakashi had a sprained ankle and that he just needs rest, but Sakura was a different case. The wound on her shoulder would need more time to heal, and because of the gash on her shoulder, she had lost a lot of blood. Tsunami told them that she would only be able to clean the wound with rubbing alcohol before it could get infected, but other than that, she couldn't do anything else.

As Tsunami went to gather her supplies, Sasuke left Naruto snoring in the living room to check on Sakura. Quietly entering her room, Sasuke made his way to the far side of the room, where Sakura's futon laid. He kneeled down at her side and gazed down at her peaceful face. Then his dark eyes trailed down from her pale face to her shoulder. His gaze blank gaze turned into a hard glare as he looked upon the bandaged wound.

_Sakura's hurt and it's all my fault_, he thought angrily. He clenched his hands on his lap into tight fists, gritting his teeth. He was furious at himself. First he stumbled and almost died. Second, he let Sakura sacrifice herself for him and become she critically injured. Lastly, he felt weak and reckless!

And Uchihas are _not_ weak or reckless.

He continued to glare down at her bandaged shoulder, glaring even harder when he noticed the blood starting to seep through and stain the gauze, a scarlet splotch slowly growing bigger and bigger. Where was Miss Tsunami?

But how could Sakura defeat Zabuza?

Now the thought of Sakura's newly found strength invaded Sasuke's mind.

Sasuke had seen the way she had fought and he still was in shock. Sakura was stronger, smarter, more logical, more _mature_. She hadn't bothered to ask him out in _weeks_! It just didn't make sense to him.

The Old Sakura, the one he knew in the Academy, was bubbly, confident, and easily angered. The Old Sakura was _innocent_. She hadn't been corrupted to the harsh truth that is reality. She never felt the stinging of an injury, the hurt of betrayal from someone you trusted, the pain of loosing someone you loved. That Sakura was full of pure light, she was like spring.

And he liked that.

This, _New Sakura _though, was like the winter, dark clouds hiding the sky. New Sakura was quieter, mysterious, and logical. She didn't whine, she acted on instinct and put herself to work. She was actually being…

A great shinobi.

She was still confident, but unlike Old Sakura, New Sakura was harder to read, like she put up walls so no one knew what she was thinking. Actually, he couldn't tell _what_ she was thinking at all.

Sometimes Sasuke thought she knew more than he did. She seemed to understand things that kids at their age didn't.

Sakura shifted and mumbled incoherently, making him stiffen and turn away. When she continued to mumble words to the point that some of them sounded clear, curiously, Sasuke leaned in closer to her. He strained his ears to her what she was saying.

Sakura frowned, her brow furrowed. She muttered, "Stop it...why you bastard...your fault...ruined...life...caused...death...I'll _kill_ you.."

Sakura's eyes snapped open, and before Sasuke could react, he was knocked over on his back and slammed down onto the wooden floor, with Sakura pinning his legs down with her knees and his shoulders with her hands.

Shocked, he looked up at her face, and his eyes widened, pupils dilated.

Sakura's face looked unrecognizable. Usually her face was impassive, hard to read, but right now, there was pure animosity burning in her now empty green eyes, her mouth in a snarl.

It was like she was possessed.

"This is all _your_ fault," she growled. "It's all because of _you_! You ruined _everything_! You hurt _him, me, everyone_! We did _everything_ to get you back, but you kept pushing us away! And you never told me why! Every time I confessed, you _never_ gave me a clear answer! For an Uchiha, you're pretty blind! Why can't you _see_? Revenge isn't always the _answer_!"

Sasuke's eyes widened. _Revenge?_

Almost gently, Sakura's hands moved from his shoulders to wrap around his neck. She grinned, as if what she was doing was normal, like it was nothing.

"All I have to do, is kill you, and everything would be just fine," she whispered.

She pressed her thumbs down, putting pressure on his trachea. He silently gasped for breath, struggling to breath. He was petrified, scared, but he couldn't move. He didn't push her away, he was just frozen in place.

_Why won't I move?_

Seeing him struggle to breath made Sakura gave a quiet maniacal chuckle, her grin growing bigger and the anger in her eyes more defined.

"If only this could be easy," she cried, tears brimming from the corners of her eyes. "If I had proof that they would believe me, that I'm fro-"

Suddenly, Sakura gasped, flinching in pain before she fell back into the futon. Realizing what had happened, Sasuke scrambled to back away, taking deep breaths.

He watched her for a moment as she continued spazzing, until after about a few seconds later, she stopped. Her breathing became even, her body flat flat on her back and still.

Cautiously, Sasuke crept towards Sakura, holding his breath as stopped to sit at her side.

He noted Sakura's hair was elegantly splayed out on waves, her mouth slightly parted. Her red shirt had rode up, exposing her smooth flat stomach.

Sasuke felt his face grow warm and shook the details out of his head.

He felt so confused. _Who's fault? Ruined what? Caused who's death? Kill _who_?_

Who the hell was Sakura dreaming about? Her words echoed in his mind.

_For an Uchiha, you're pretty blind...for an _Uchiha_, you're pretty blind...for Uchiha...you're _blind_..._

Who was this Uchiha she was talking about?

Sasuke's eyes widened, pupils dilated. _Could she be talking about_-

Sasuke shook his head. It couldn't be. _He_ would never come back, and even if _he_ had, what was his connection with Sakura?

Then who was the Uchiha she was talking about?

Sasuke frowned. Could he, _himself_, have done something to her to make her like this? To make her turn into _New Sakura?_

He shook his head again. Impossible! He hardly noticed her until he met her at the Academy.

He scowled. He didn't know, but whatever happened before the day before they graduated the Academy, it sure as hell changed the way Sakura looked at the world.

Sasuke looked up thoughtfully. _I could sure use that strength._

Then his eyes widened in realization.

_Could Sakura be stronger than m—_

"Sasuke-san?"

Startled, he stiffened at his name before calmly turning to the door to see Tsunami standing at the threshold, a curious look on her face.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

Sasuke nodded, grunting in permission. She quietly entered the room, and sat next to Sakura across from him, putting down a bowl of water and fresh gauze next to her. She reached out and pulled down the blankets from Sakura's body.

Sasuke immediately noted that Sakura was still wearing the same clothes, creased and muddy with pieces of grass here and there.

Tsunami noticed Sasuke's weariness on Sakura-san's current state. He was studying the pink haired girl's form so _intently_, it looked as if the clothes would catch on fire from the intensity of his gaze.

She waited for a moment before she finally spoke up. "I couldn't find any spare clothes for her," she explained, looking down at Sakura's peaceful face. "I went through her bag to look for an extra pair of clothes, there _was_ but they were also dirty, most of her stuff caked with mud and dirt. I would have asked for permission, but considering the circumstances I thought I'd just go through her things quickly. I also would have lent her my clothes, but they were too big and I gave my old clothes away to other children when I had Inari."

_Must have been from the fight_, Sasuke realizing how Sakura's clothes got dirty.

He only nodded to her before he calmly stood up and left the room, leaving the door open. Tsunami was worried for a moment, scared that she had said something to make him upset, but it was replaced with confusion when he came back with a bundle of neatly folded clothes in his hands. After Sasuke took his seat again, he held out the clothes to Tsunami, waiting for her to take them with a calm face.

When she laid the close next to her, she looked back at him curiously. He noticed her curious gaze and turned his face away from her, fixing his gaze on Sakura's face. He felt his neck go warm. He said, "She could wear that. It'll probably be a little loose, but she will manage."

Tsunami stared at the young boy, eyes wide with surprise. She swore she saw his neck go pink. Was the Uchiha..._blushing_?

Tsunami knew she had a hard time seeing things. When she was younger, she needed glasses, but she was always good at _noting_ the romantic, emotional gestures, like a glowing piece in the middle of a picture. Like this for example. She could clearly see the intense emotion he held in his eyes to his pink haired teammate. She smiled gently before bringing a hand up to cover a chuckle.

Sasuke turned back to her and frowned. "What's so funny?" he questioned irritatedly.

She shook her head. "It's nothing. I was just wondering when were you gonna leave unless...You're still here to help me change Sakura-san's clothes?" she asked, smiling mischievously.

For a short moment, Sasuke stared at Tsunami blankly. Then the warmth from his neck quickly spread to his face and he ducked his head down, bolting up and quickly leaving the room.

She giggled. She was sure now. That boy had never felt the way he does now for a girl. She looked at Sakura.

_Looks like she's his first._

She sighed. Time to change her into that black sleeveless shirt and white knee length shorts now.

* * *

_**END OF FLASHBACK**_

* * *

Sasuke shook the memory out of his head before gazing down the hall where Sakura had walked off.

_What is she hiding? Can I really trust her?_

"Oi, Sasuke!"

Sasuke stiffened before he saw Sakura appear at the end of the hall again.

She frowned. "I thought you were sent to fetch _me_. Now I'm the one who has to get _you_," she teased. "Hurry up and come downstairs."

"Hn."

And with that, they left Tazuna's house to meet in the forest.

* * *

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	10. Chapter 9

_Thanks for reviewing you guys! You are AMAZEBALLS! _

* * *

**THROW-BACK THURSDAY**

**CHAPTER 9:**

**The Forest of Chakra and Sexual Innuendos**

* * *

Team 7 stood in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by tall trees. The three genin stood in a circle in front of Kakashi, who was standing using a wooden crutch.

"Now that we have moved on from teamwork, I can now teach you how to climb trees," Kakashi said.

Sasuke spoke up,"Wait, so if we never learned teamwork, then you would have never taught us anything?"

"Yes, anyways—"

"But Kakashi-sensei," Naruto interrupted. "I already know how to climb trees! I thought you were gonna teach us something new!"

"Yes, I know, but—"

"Baka, he means without using our hands," Sakura exposed to Naruto.

"_Yes_," Kakashi finally broke in with an authoritative voice, trying not to show how irritated he was from being interrupted multiple times. "Sakura is correct. Today, I'm actually gonna teach you chakra control."

Naruto cheered,"Yeah! Catra!"

"It's chakra, Dobe," Sasuke corrected him.

"Ah," Sakura agreed. "Come on, Naruto, we learned this in the Academy."

"I knew that...what's chakra?"

Sakura and Sasuke rolled their eyes.

"Again, we learned this in the Academy, but I'll explain it to you anyway." Sakura said.

"Chakra is the center of our energy, an even combination of our physical and spiritual energy," she explained. "Chakra is essential to even the most basic techniques. Through various methods, the most common being hand seals, chakra can be controlled and manipulated to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise, such as walking on water, exhaling fire, and creating illusions. Chakra is ordinarily not visible to the unaided eye unless it's highly concentrated or manifested in large amounts."

Then Sakura mumbled quietly, "But not everyone can use it." It wasn't directed to them, but Kakashi and Sasuke, being the closest to her, raised an eyebrow in question.

Kakashi brushed that comment aside and nodded. "Thank you, Sakura, for that elaborate explanation. So, taking what she said into account, you can manipulate your chakra to the soles of your feet and walk up the tree. Like this," he said.

He took a moment to focus his chakra to his feet, making the gennin look at him curiously.

"It's impossible, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto grumbled.

Kakashi defended, "Nothing is impossible, Naruto. The word literally says 'I'm possible'."

Then he turned around to put a foot on the trunk behind him, then the other, and taking casual steps up the trunk. He walked higher and higher, making the kids crane their necks up at him, gawking(mostly Naruto and Sasuke), as he continued to level up the trunk foot by foot. He broke off from the trunk as he walked on a thick branch from upside down.

"Su-_sugoi_," Naruto gaped before he grinned and clenched a fist, a determined look in his eyes. "I _so_ gotta try that!"

"Yeah, now," Kakashi said from his spot upside down on the branch. He took out three of his kunai and threw each one at the ground near the gennin's feet. "Take these kunai, and mark the spot on the tree where you stop." Kakashi pushed off the branch and gently landed back in front of them, careful of his injury.

They nodded and and took their kunai, splitting up to stand at their own tree, and almost simultaneously, they dashed up their tree with a burst of speed.

Each of them ended with a different result. Naruto was the first to fall out of the three, barely making it one and a half feet up the long trunk, and landing on the ground on his head with a yelp. Sasuke was the second to stop, but only making about three forth up the trunk. As for Sakura...

"Hey," Naruto called, sitting up from the ground. He looked around curiously. "Where's Sakura-chan?"

The three males looked around for their pink haired teammate, but to no avail. Suddenly, they heard the loud sound of rustling leaves and a loud crash.

Then turned to the foot of Sakura's tree. A large piece of the tree had crashed to the ground, and a second later, Sakura was there too, perfectly fine and on her feet.

She pouted and looked away from them when she felt her face turn warm.

"Sakura, what happened?" Kakashi asked.

"Gomen, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura mumbled. "I ran up the tree like you said, but I managed to make it to the top and when I slashed the kunai to mark where I stopped, I accidentally sliced the top off."

"...Huh," he replied, slightly surprised. "I see... Sakura has the best chakra control." He glanced at the young Uchiha. "Guess the Uchiha aren't so great after all."

That comment made Sasuke scowl and go back to training. He didn't like the idea of loosing to a girl, much less a girl who came from a civilian family. He'd show that jounin what Uchiha's were made of.

"Sakura's also seems to be another step closer to Hokage," Kakashi added, glancing at Naruto, who after hearing that, immediately stood up and pointed a finger at Sakura.

"I will _not_ lose to a girl!" he exclaimed.

Sakura smirked and sneered,"We'll see."

At these words, Sasuke and Naruto turned to glare at each other and Kakashi smirked in satisfaction at his job well done. The only person not benefiting from the praise was Sakura herself.

She was not as gullible as she was before and took Kakashi's praise with a grain of salt; she knew he only said those things not to make her feel proud of herself but to motivate her younger male teammates. She was a pawn, she could see it now. A tool to be used and then forgotten. The moment she was given to shine ripped out from underneath her and utilized for the benefit of her teammates.

The pink haired ninja knew what her sensei was thinking, Sasuke and Naruto had far more chakra within than she did, even back at the Academy, thus if they could master this technique they would be an asset to the team.

"More like they'd have enough chakra control and strength to not need a third person," she murmured to herself.

Unknown to her, Inner was making her own resolve with these thoughts, something she, herself, decided to not tell her outer counter part.

_Power. Need more power..._

* * *

It was when about two hours later, when Sakura was taking a break under her fifteenth tree(she kept breaking the tops off the other 14), had Kakashi decided to check on them.

Kakashi walked up to her and said, "Hello, Sakura, I think it's about time I teach you something else."

She raised an eyebrow curiously. "Nani?" she asked.

"Take off your clothes."

Sakura stared hard at him, her gaze piercing through him and making him break into a cold sweat. She blinked a few times.

Once...Twice...Thrice.

She grimaced and snarled,"You disgust me."

Kakashi blinked. "Nani?"

Sakura turned and started walking to the boys. "Hey, Naruto, Sasuke," she called, waving to them to catch their attention. They looked at her curiously. "Kakashi-sensei is a _lolicon_!"

They turned their gazes to him, looking at him blankly for a second before they both grimaced at him and hissed:

"_Hentai_."

"_Little girl lover_!"

Kakashi waved a hand dismissively at them, laughing nervously. "No, I didn't mean it like that!" he explained.

"I said that because you're gonna get _wet_."

Team 7's gennin immediately cringed back, their grimaces deepening.

Sasuke hissed, "You're a disgrace."

"Have you no shame?" Sakura cried out.

"How dare you flirt with Sakura-chan so shamelessly, you dirty old man!"

Kakashi sweat dropped. He sighed,"_Because_ I'm gonna teach you how to walk on water."

Their disgusted looks turned to looks of realization.

"Oh," Sakura said before she frowned, rolling her eyes and grumbling. "You could have just said that from the start. You and your _sexual_ _innuendos_."

As Kakashi started to chuckle, Naruto and Sasuke nodded irritatedly in agreement before they went back to training.

Sakura followed as Kakashi lead her deeper into the forest.

"Kakashi-sensei, why do you offer to teach _me_?" she questioned suspiciously as they walked.

He had never shown much interested in her, even when she first became gennin, and compared to Sasuke and Naruto, who had more skill than she had in her first life. Had she been too carefree with her strength and aroused his suspicions? Maybe she should have acted the same, then maybe he would not be so odd and suspicious of her.

He merely shrugged and didn't take to her jab. "I just think that since you've already mastered walking on solid objects, it wouldn't hurt to teach you how to walk on water," he lightly explained. "I mean, you know what they say. The more you learn, the better."

Kakashi left out the part where he wanted to study her newly found abilities and strength. He knew what he saw in her files and it clearly stated that she was the weakest of the three in chakra and physical strength and definitely had no monstrous strength whatsoever. When she showed her undiscovered strength in the Bell Test, he immediately became confused. Then when she admitted what the test was truly about, he became suspicious. And to add to all of that, she never looked lovingly at Sasuke at all.

That was the last kunai.

What was she hiding? He was always suspicious, he was just that could at hiding it.

But he wouldn't confront her. Not yet.

Sakura accepted his answer for now and once they reached the riverbank, he explained the difference between walking up solid objects versus walking on liquid and how to focus her chakra.

"...So, do you get it?" he asked after he explained the whole thing.

Sakura nodded confidently.

"Then see ya on the other side." Kakashi started calmly walking across the river, using himself as an example.

Sakura took off the black sleeveless shirt and white shorts she had been changed into when she was unconscious, which left her in her spandex black ninja bra and mini black spandex shorts she had under.

She stood at the edge of the riverbank as she focused her chakra to her feet and it didn't take her long to feel the chakra swirling at the soles of her shoes.

She put a cautious step on the surface of the water and made sure her foot didn't sink. Then she took another step and another, until she was standing on the middle of the river stream unsteadily.

She grinned, her eyes crinkling. _Yes_! she thought. _I'm doing it! I mean, it wasn't as easy as it was when I was 14, but who cares! I'm doing it!_

_Yeah, sure you are_, Inner Sakura snorted.

Sakura had a confused look on her face for a second, but it was replaced with realization then panic when she felt herself sink and fall, plunging into the cold water and moving down the river with its strong current.

A few feet down the river, she eventually pulled herself out of the river and onto the riverbank, gasping and coughing on her hands and knees. Scrapes and cuts from the river rocks laced and stung her skin and she coughed several times, having swallowed some of the salt water. The river probably was connected to a salt lake, she thought, irritated. She growled.

Kakashi appeared in front of her without a sympathetic look. "Don't look so irritated," he said, before he smiled. "Most kids don't get it the first time, so don't worry about it."

_If only you knew. I'm not like most kids_, Sakura scowled, snorting. _In fact, I'm not a kid at all. I'm a 17 year old chunin ranked kunoichi who was sent back in time in her 12 year old body with a second chance to fix her mistakes and change her future!_

But she couldn't tell her sensi that, at least, not until she had proof that he wouldn't report her to the Hokage for a psychoanalysis and for 'impossible theories' and ludicrousness.

_Come on, Sakura, _she cheered. _You got this! You're 17 and a chunin! You were trained by Tsunade, one of the three Legendary Sannin! You got this!_

* * *

**_Thanks everyone! I hope you like this chapter!_**

**_Inner's starting to act weird, isn't she?_**

**_If you like/LOVE my fanfic, please review on your thoughts!_**


	11. Chapter 10

_Hello, **my lovely TBT fans and viewers!**_

_I just want to thank you guys for being **amazing** and **reviewing** my fanfiction._

_Guys, I've been thinking..._

_Should I get a **Beta**? I'm a little shy to ask, but if anyone is willing to volunteer..._

* * *

**Throw-Back Thursday**

* * *

**Chapter 10:**

**Logic Over Love **

_**"Harden your heart and walk alone."**_

* * *

_I don't got this_, she grumbled, panting as she again pulled herself out of the river. Her body was running out of chakra, and her body was sore. Parts of her stung from the extra scratches and cuts she had received. It had been about another two hours into her training, and Kakashi had left to check on the boys progress then guard Tazuna.

She sat down on the ground near the river and sighed.

Naruto and Sasuke were making great progress like in her last life, but she wasn't making much _just_ like in her last life! She almost made it across! She may have better chakra control than them, but her chakra reserves were way smaller than theirs still.

And it frustrated her to no end.

_I wish I had my Yin Seal_, Sakura thought before she smiled sadly. _But I guess it'd be best if i didn't have it. The Seal would stand out especially on my big forehead, and it'd make me all the more suspicious._

"Oi, Sakura. Let's call it a day," Kakashi called as he came to stand at her side, a towel in his grasp. He offered it to her and she gladly took it. "You made great progress today. Kids your age don't usually get as far as you just did in a two hours. Keep practicing and you'll master chakra control in no time."

Sakura scowled. _But I'm not like other kids! I should be able to master it now! _She wanted to yell at him, but she refrained herself from speaking her thoughts and nodded as she dried her hair.

Kakashi continued,"Now, I need you to accompany Tazuna. He needs to head into town to go grocery shopping." Then he left, probably to check on the boys again, she thought wistfully.

* * *

Once Sakura had finished changing into her clothes(Tsunami was so kind to wash and dry them for her), she grabbed her satchel and Tazuna and her immediately headed into town. As they walked through town, without moving her head, Sakura's jade green eyes scanned the area, lingering on one thing then to another. Since she had become a chunnin in her last life, it had become a habit to observe her surroundings first, in case there was danger or suspicious people hidden amongst the crowd.

She noted again how depressing the atmosphere was in the village as they entered the grocery store.

_As I remembered, there's hardly anything here_, Sakura thought, only her eyes moving to observe her surroundings in the shop. She smiled darkly to herself. _Gato's death would be very entertaining. _Inner Sakura smirked, silently agreeing with her. Then Sakura's eyes widened in surprise.

Sensing a presence behind her, by instinct, she growled and did a roundhouse kick to her attacker, knocking the person unconscious. She smirked at the fact the fact that she had not bothered to put any chakra in.

As they exited the store, Tazuna spoke," You surprised me back there. Girls in this village don't fight like that."

She huffed. "Hm. Maybe they should."

Then she felt a hand tug at the end of her skirt and she whipped her head to look behind her, irritated.

The same young boy gazed up at her, a hopefully look on his face as he held out his hands.

He spoke up with a high, cute voice,"Gimme some."

Sakura studied him for what seemed like minutes, but meer seconds. She remembered the kid from her last life, and he looked exactly the same. Innocent, with shaggy hair and dark brown eyes, a bright smile on his face. A look of expectation and hope.

Although, unlike last time, she scowled and gazed coldly at him.

"Sorry, kid. I don't have anything on me that you would want, and even if I _did_, I wouldn't give it to you," she snapped at the boy before she turned away and continued walking down the street, but this time her steps were slightly faster than before. Tazuna apologized to the shocked child and hurried to follow her. Both still walking, he spoke up.

"W-w-what was that?" he stammered in shock, his eyes wide and frantic.

"What?" Sakura replied, still walking and feigning innocent.

Now angry, he demanded,"Back there! What was _that_?" He referred to the way she acted so rude and cold to the boy. Tazuna had remembered that she agreed with Kakashi to escort him all the way home, and they still continued to protect him even after finding out that he was targeted by strong ninja. To him, he thought that the girl was pretty kind and honorable.

"Hm?" She looked at Tazuna, tilting her head to the side innocently, acting confused. "I just declined his request to give him something," she answered lightly.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to say it like that! You didn't have to say it so coldly!" he scolded. "It's been like this since Gato took over! It's not his fault he had to come up to you!"

Sakura's innocent confused expression changed and she stopped in her tracks, making Tazuna almost collide with her. Her face became serious, and she turned back at Tazuna, her gaze hard and sharp that it was as if it could pierce through him.

She responded calmly,"I never said it was the kid's fault." Then her face became dark and her voice menacing. "I would like nothing more than to see Gato's blood used as _paint_."

Tazuna's angry look changed to shock, and after a moment when he didn't reply, Sakura turned away and continued on her path towards Tazuna's house.

Sakura understood what she said had been...a little rude, but observing the child made her realize that…

Her kindness was a weakness.

These feelings of sympathy, compassion, and warmth. Those feelings had ruined her life. She had loved the man that betrayed her unconditionally, even when he had attempted to kill her. She had let herself be blinded by love, unable to see the logic. That was how she was back then.

Love over logic.

It was because of those emotions that made her weak and blind to the things in front of her. She should have realized sooner that_ no amount of love_ in the world could beat logic. Those feelings would hinder her mission because her mission involved corrections, things that others wouldn't believe in. The only things that belong on her mission was strength and _power_.

No. It wasn't just that. The real reason why she snapped at the kid was because…

She needed to learn to harden her heart.

When she remembered how she gave the kid candy, it reminded her of how she's been letting her guard down little by little to her team, like she had been before, weak and ignorant. She was getting _soft, _and almost let herself kiss _him_.

"I thought you were kind," Tazuna mumbled, still standing in his spot.

Sakura stopped before she looked over her shoulder and gazed at him with cold green eyes.

"Then I guess you thought _wrong_." Then she turned away and started to Tazuna's house again.

She didn't have time for friendship. This was her mission, and her mission _alone_. No one can help her.

_No one._

* * *

**TBC.**

* * *

**'_Sakura is so cold now! NOOOOO! She was so close to warming up to them!_'**

**Is probably what you're thinking.**

**Well...REVIEW ON WHAT YOU THINK! ****THANKS EVERYONE!**

**Hope you like this chapter!**


	12. Chapter 11

_**Hello, my lovely viewers/readers! **_

_**Thank you for reading my fanfiction and especially for the ones that have stuck to me from the beginning and have left wonderful reviews! You guys are AMAZEBALLS!**_

_**So, I thought it was about time I update a few chapters!**_

**Bring in...**

* * *

**Throw-Back Thursday**

**CHAPTER 11:**

**The Trigger and The Future Girl**

* * *

Meanwhile Sakura and Tazuna were out, Naruto and Sasuke continued to train in the forest, until the setting sun indicated they had been training for almost five hours.

The two boys fell to the ground for the umpteenth time, the former landed gracefully and turned to look at the hyperactive blonde ninja who(only three hours ago could barely get one foot in front of the other) was now catching up to him, inch by inch. But how?

Naruto had no idea what he was doing until...

"_Sakura_," Sasuke muttered to himself as he remembered the pink haired teen whispering something inaudible to Naruto.

She obviously had given him some sort of advice on how to focus his chakra better because as soon as she left, Naruto began to catch up on him. Although his Uchiha pride would never allow him to admit it, Sasuke was angry and a little envious that she had chosen to help the blonde instead of him.

...Not that he need her help in the first place.

Naruto to n the other hand, was getting progressively angrier. It seemed that every time he thought he had enough chakra to make it all the way up the tree, it would just fizzle out and he would be sent falling back down to the ground.

"WHY IS THIS SO _HARD_?" Naruto shouted angrily, drawing Sasuke's attention. When their eyes met, they both froze, glaring at each other.

Naruto shook his head before turning back to his own tree.

_No, no, no! If I think about Sasuke I'll lose my concentration! Come on, Naruto! Center yourself! Remember what Sakura said! Relax; focus on the tree_... Closing his eyes, the Knuckleheaded Ninja felt a surge of chakra at the bottoms of his feet.

"Yeah! I can feel it!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. "I'm going all the way this time!" Completely sure of himself, he charged at the tree once again.

"Hey, Naruto," Sasuke called out, completely taking the boy by surprise and making him trip to face plant the ground.

He sat up and turned to face Sasuke. "AHHH! SASUKE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I WAS TRYING TO FOCUS MY CHAKRA!" Naruto yelled. He fixed the Uchiha with a glare.

"Well," Sasuke started. "Uhhh...The thing is..." He couldn't believe he was about to do this.

"Yeah, what is it?" Naruto asked, folding his arms impatiently and intensifying his glare.

Sasuke stammered," Y-you know, you asked Sakura for advice when she was here. So, what did she tell you?" His eyes was twitching and he inwardly cursed himself for stuttered. Uchiha men do _not_ stutter.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise before his mouth formed into a huge grin. Sasuke immediately regretted asking for help.

"I'm not telling you."

* * *

"Hehe, this is fantastic! It's been ages since we had so many guests around our table!" Tazuna said happily as Team 7 around the dinner table to eat.

No matter how many times she would come back in time, Sakura would still be disgusted and embarrassed of her teammates; Naruto and Sasuke had come back from training, unsuccessful and more competitive than ever. Tonight's competition appeared to be who could eat the most in one sitting.

Naruto shoveled rice into his mouth with one hand and ate a lump of bread with the other; He was eating so fast, Sakura had to wonder if his body found time to breath in between mouthfuls. Sasuke was a little more elegant bug nevertheless he downed his rice in record time and began tearing apart the bread as though he had not eaten in days.

"I WANT SOME MORE!" Both boys declared as they stood up and held out their bowls. Seeing that they tied again, they glared at each other viciously before bending over to throw up violently.

Sakura shook her head in disapproval. She asked in annoyance,"What's the point in eating so much if you're just gonna puke it back up?"

"I have to eat," Sasuke answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And I have to eat more than him," Naruto added as the boys smirked at each other. "It's the only possible way I'll get stronger."

"That's true, but puking won't help you," Kakashi cut in, bestowing his worldly wisdom upon his male students.

The topic of dinner conversation was Naruto and Sasuke's training session and how much they they were improving. Naruto was loud and boastful as usual and Sasuke was quiet but obviously proud; Inari said nothing and preferred to stare at his dinner.

Meanwhile they, except Inari and partly Sasuke, were conversing, Sakura was in her own little world.

She thought back to when she fought off Zabuza instead of Naruto and Sasuke. She just had a bad feeling in her gut and it made her frown.

_Something doesn't feel righ_t, she thought. She tried to remember what exactly happened the first time this happened. She closed her eyes to picture it in her head.

During the fight Zabuza, Naruto and Sasuke had devised a plan and…

Sakura's eyes snapped open and she hissed in frustration. She wanted to slap herself. The fight was supposed to make Naruto realize his dreams and goals! Zabuza and Haku were the ones that inspired Naruto to create his own 'Ninja Way'.

She growled, clenching her teeth. She done it. She really screwed up this time. How could she have been so stupid?

Unknown to her, Sasuke had noticed her unusual change in demeanor and glanced at her curiously. She was glaring a hole into her meal and Sasuke actually felt bad for the poor bowl.

If Sakura remembered correctly, by now she should have gone and stupidly asked a personal question, but that question got Naruto to inspire Inari that there are heroes, and start developing his Ninja Way. Sakura looked up to glance at Inari and was surprised to see Sasuke looking at her. When she caught him staring at her, he immediately looked away, feeling his neck warm up.

The boys continued to eat as Sakura finished her dinner and put her dishes away. Acting casual, Sakura walked up to the family photo on the wall and pretending to be innocent.

"Excuse me, but why is this picture torn?" she observed casually. She knew this was personal, but she had to do it. She refrained herself from cringing. "It seems that a face of the person in this picture was torn. Was it like that already or was it on purpose?"

The cheeriness of the room almost immediately sobered down, and the three civilians stiffened. Tazuna and Tsunami's expressions saddened.

She looked back at Inari. "Inari," she continued, her guilt slightly growing, but she kept her face calm and observant. "you kept glancing at it all through dinner. Is it someone of great significance to you?"

Inari didn't respond to her. Instead, it was Tsunami who spoke. "It... was my husband," she answered stiffly.

"He was once called a hero in this town," Tazuna said sadly, looking down at his cup of tea with a sad expression. The sound of wood skidding across the floor was heard and all turned to see Inari quietly jumping down from his chair and leaving.

Tsunami turned back from washing the dishes to look at Inari worriedly. "Inari, where are you going?" she asked, concerned.

He ignored her and left the dining room, wordlessly closing the door. A long awkward silence was carried out, and Sakura couldn't help herself to speak up. She felt guilty.

"G-gomennasai!" she apologized quickly before she bowed slightly towards Tsunami. "I should have known it was personal!"

Tsunami looked at her and shook her head, smiling sadly. "It's not your fault, you didn't know," she replied, a hint of sadness in her tone.

_No, I did know, but I had to!_ Sakura mentally answered truthfully. _Gomen!_

Tsunami hurriedly went to the door and as she opened it, she looked over her shoulder at her Tazuna.

"Dad, I told you not to talk about that person in front of Inari!" she scolded before closing the door behind her to go after Inari.

Another long silence was carried as everyone except Tazuna stared after the mother and son.

Sakura asked, concerned, "What happened to Inari to make him act like this?"

Kakashi nodded and turned to Tazuna, who was scowling down at the table. He said,"There's some kind of good reason."

"Inari had a father not related by blood," Tazuna answered without meeting any of their eyes. "It was like they were a real father and son who got along really well."

Naruto looked surprised as he gazed at him.

"Back then, Inari was a child who laughed all the time. However," Tazuna paused, fisting his hands hard that they trembled. Team 7 looked at him surprised to see that Tazuna had started to cry, tears of anger and sadness cascading down his face and dripping onto the table. He looked up to meet their eyes, tears brimming in his own. "However, Inari has changed ever since that incident with his father. The word bravery was eternally taken away from the people of this land and from Inari. With that _day_, that _incident_, as the trigger."

"That incident? What happened to Inari?" Kakashi asked.

"To explain the incident, I must first," Tazuna said as he removed his glasses to wipe away his tears. "tell you about the man who was called the hero of this land."

"Hero?" Naruto repeated, his eyes wide in awe.

When he finally reapplied his glasses and looked up, Tazuna began, "It was around three years ago, when Inari met the man."

Tazuna began to explain a heartrending piece of their towns past. He spoke of Inari's father figure, Kaiza, the man the entire village looked up to as a hero, including Inari. He had taught the townspeople courage and fortitude, and was slain by Gato because of it. Well, it certainly explained Inari's bitter outlook on life.

After that, Naruto seemed more determined than ever to excel in his training. He openly proclaimed that he would prove to this land that heroes do still exist, that bravery is a cultivated trait everyone can embody. It was this kind of meddlesome talk which earned him the disdain from Inari that the group had grown to accept.

* * *

**Two Days Later - At Dinner**

* * *

"You're training is going well I take it?" came Tazuna's rough voice after everyone had cleared their plates.

"You bet'cha," exclaimed Naruto with a grin. "I can't make it to the top just yet, but I'm not givin' up, believe it."

"And what about you?" asked Tsunami, turning her charcoal eyes on Sakura. "You still come in here dripping wet from your training every night. I worry you might catch a cold if you keep this up."

"Sakura will be just fine," answered Kakashi for her. The dazed girl turned her attention to her sensei. "You've actually been progressing quite well, from what I've observed. You just need to stop focusing on the water so much."

Sakura scowled. "I knew that," she huffed haughtily. And she did. It was just a lot harder to do than she remembered.

I've been meaning to ask you this, Kakashi, but why did you decide to continue on this mission anyway? Especially after I lied to you and all."

The jounin rested his elbows on the table, clasping his hands before his chin thoughtfully. "Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage. But under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive."

Those words tickled something in Sakura's memory, and she was certain she had read them somewhere in her studies, but she could not place it. The kitchen's occupants stared at the older ninja questioningly.

"That's a quote from the first Hokage," he answered finally.

The room held a pensive pause.

"But why...?" Inari's small voice drew everyone's attention. He was staring into his lap, stifling a sob, when his head snapped to eye-level. "All this stupid training is just a waste of time! Gato's got a huge army and they'll beat you down dead for sure. You guys think you're so tough, with your cool words and your training, but it doesn't mean a thing. No matter what, the strong always win and the weak always lose. That's the way things work."

"And that's why we're gonna win," Sakura broke in. "Not because we are strong, but because we are a team. They have an army, but they don't have teamwork, or a orange Knuckleheaded ninja who has a thing for a ramen and never giving up." She glanced meaningfully at Naruto, a small knowing smile on her face.

"Hmph," grumbled Naruto deeply. "Yeah! Just speak for yourself, all right? It won't be like that for me, you got that?" Sakura detected something different in her blonde teammate's tone. There was something more personal about it, more serious, and her smile was gone.

"Be quiet! Just be quiet!" The dark-haired boy slammed his hands on the table and rose from his seat, eyes ablaze. "Just looking at you makes me sick. You don't know anything about this land or our troubles. You're just butting in, thinking you can fix everything. You know nothing about the suffering and pain we've all been through!"

"Just look at yourself!" snapped Naruto, rising from his chair across from Inari to meet the boy's gaze head-on. "The people around you are trying so hard to make this place better. And what do you do? You just sit there, crying and whining and complaining about everything, like you're some sorry victim. Why don't you try doing something for a change? Instead of just sitting there and acting like a little coward!"

Naruto gaze was hard, steely, and evoked no warmth. Sakura felt pity for her teammate. She knew the boy right in front was an orphan, much less knew his parents.

The blonde turned away, ramming his hand in his pocket as he left the kitchen and went outside. Sakura watched him exit the room before returning her eyes to the table. Inari had left the room as well.

"I apologize for the outburst," Kakashi said, his eye on Tazuna and Tsunami. "Naruto tends to allow his emotions to get the best of him. You have to forgive him."

"You can't blame him," Sakura commented, making the three adults and Sasuke look at her. She gazed down at the table. "Yes, what he said was a bit harsh, but he has his heart in the right place."

"It seemed kinda personal to me though," Tazuna noted.

Sakura nodded gravely. "It was," she explained, her voice grim and her green eyes darkened with sorrow for her blonde teammate. She felt her eyes moistened and she swallowed a sob, but no one noticed the tears that threatened to spill. "You see, like Inari, Naruto grew up without a father. In fact, he never knew either of his parents. And he grew up without a friend in the world."

Tsunami and Tazuna glanced at the door Naruto had exited with a shocked look while Kakashi studied Sakura's form. Her eyes were downcast and her head was tilted away from all of them, including Sasuke, who was also studying her curiously. She felt their eyes on her and she managed to stop her tears from falling. _Remember, crying is a weakness..._

_Did Naruto tell her this?_ Kakashi wondered. _No one their age should know about this unless he actually told her. Well, she has been kinder to him since they became a team. Maybe he felt that it was okay to tell her this._

Sasuke frowned. _Where did she get this information? _he questioned. Certainly not from Naruto, he was with him more than she was, and he could have sworn he never saw those two interact so personally that the Dobe would tell her something so personal as that.

"I believe he understands your grandson's instinct to sulk and give up," continued Kakashi. "But I don't think Naruto wants him to. I believe his behavior makes much more sense once you put it into context. I'll go talk to Inari. And as for you two..." Sakura and Sasuke turned to their sensei, no traces of tears on her face. "It's about time you headed to bed. Regain your strength for tomorrow."

Sasuke nodded and the two genin rose from their places. Sakura's eyes lingered back at the kitchen exit.

"Naruto will be fine," assured Kakashi. "Trust me, Sakura. Now get to bed."

Kakashi noted how Sakura distanced herself farther from the dark haired boy again, but shrugged it off for now.

Sakura nodded before she and Sasuke exited through the same door, but as Sasuke headed to the guest rooms upstairs Sakura headed the opposite direction, towards the Naruto's chakra signal she had been tracking the whole time.

"Oi, where are you going?" Sasuke asked as she took the hallway that lead to the back door, towards the forest they had trained in.

Without turning back to him, she said over her shoulder with a neutral tone, "Just going to take a walk. I'll be back later."

* * *

**_ To be continued..._**

**NEXT WEEK!**

* * *

_A/N: Sorry, if it's shorter and boring, GOT TO STUDY FOR CLASSES!_

_Please check out my new SasuSaku fanfic, The Meaning of Forever, and if you already did, THANKS! Hope you enjoyed it! I'll update soon!_

* * *

**EXTRA_:_**

_**BACKSTAGE DIALOGUE**_

* * *

"Nnugh!" Naruto groaned, reaching up and attempting to pull out his spiky blond hair. "These chapters are so short, dattebyo! Always some stupid cliffhangers! Hurry up and get to to the action!"

"SHANNARO! Don't rush the author, Naruto!" Sakura scolded, putting her hand on her waist.

Sasuke crosses his arms over his chest and huffed, "Just be patient, Dobe."

"Shut up, Teme, and why you lying!?" Naruto accused Sasuke, turning to point an accusing finger at him. "I know that you want to fast forward this too and get some action just as much as I do!"

"Hn."

"And, besides," Naruto said, grinning as he moved closer to whisper in Sasuke's ear. "You and I both know for a fact that, since this _is_ a SasuSaku fanfic, you want to get in on some action. If you know what I mean, neh? Sasuke?" Naruto grinned even wider as he noticed Sasuke's cheeks grow a pink hue, and he nudged him in the ribs.

Sasuke felt his cheeks warm up, and he ducked his head and turned away form Naruto and Sakura, but under his dark bangs, he cast a nervous glance at Sakura to see if she heard any of this.

Sakura only raised an eyebrow at him and Naruto and frowned, mad that she was being excluded from the classified conversation they were having.

A few seconds later, when he felt the heat disappear from his cheeks, Sasuke turned back to Naruto and hissed, "Shut it, _DOBE_."

"You're not denying it."

BAM.


	13. Chapter 12

**THROWBACK THURSDAY**

**CHAPTER 12**

**The Mist Demon, the Ice Prince, and the Pink Knight**

* * *

Sakura awoke to the loud sound of chirping and tweeting, as if it was right in her ear. She opened her eyes, only to see that a couple of brown and white sparrows had practically made a nest out of her chest and stomach, curling and wrinkling the fabric of her top. The one that had woke her up being next to her ear. It loudly chirped again, making Sakura cringe at the loud noise. It was too early for this. She shifted her head and growled at it, but the bird merely looked into her eyes with its beady ones. Getting more irritated, she also shifted her body, trying to make the others fly away, but they continued perching comfortably on her body. A vein popped on her head before she shut her eyes and gritted her teeth with frustration.

"...OI! FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO NEST ON, YOU STUPID BIRDS!" she exploded, snapping her raged filled eyes open and flailing her arms around.

Finally, this was more than enough to startle the birds and make them fly away. Sitting upright, Sakura sighed.

_Tch, stupid birds,_ Sakura thought, laying back down and sighing, but Sakura's eyes widened and she shot up, tense and guard up. Sakura felt another familiar chakra signal closing in on Naruto's. This was exactly why she came out last night, and took perch on a high branch not very far from Naruto. She remembered in her last life Naruto had told her about meeting someone while he was out here training and now older and wiser, she was more suspicious. Last time, it had seemed that the person he had met had not tried to hurt Naruto, so she thought it was okay to see for herself who this person was.

Of course without Naruto or Kakashi knowing.

With her perfect chakra control, she studied the familiar chakra signal. It was warm, but at the same time, cold, like frozen fire. Sakura had read once in a book of myths that somewhere in the world a frozen flame dwells, the color of sapphires. Why did it feel so familiar? For some reason, Sakura couldn't remember.

Sakura cursed, _Why does my memory seem so...fuzzy? Well, it's been years, so I guess I wouldn't be able to remember most of it, but..._

She shook it off before she jumped down from her branch and determinedly made her way towards the two chakra signals. When she walked into the clearing where they had trained on their first day, her jade eyes immediately met a pair of dark brown orbs.

_Ahhh...now I remember._

This..._she man._..was the masked boy she had met earlier. This was Haku.

Haku was the first to speak up. "Oh good morning," he greeted her with a smile. It was genuine, she could tell, although, if he remembered her, would he attack her?

Still on guard, she tried to act casual and smiled back, nodding in acknowledgment. "Ah, good morning," she replied before her eyes glanced at the basket. "Are here to pick up herbs?"

Still smiling, Haku nodded and walked into the center of the clearing, kneeling next to Naruto and studying his sleeping face. Sakura's hand twitched and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

Sensing her quick change of demeanor, he looked up at her and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I won't hurt your friend," he answered and looked back down at the blonde boy beneath him. "Although, I would like to take the herbs he's sleeping on."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh let me help you!" she said, quickly kneeling down on one knee at Naruto's side, across from Haku. "Ano, you're a girl...right?" she asked shyly, glancing up at him with a little flush of embarrassment on her cheeks. Although she knew he was a boy, she thoughts she would try to lighten the wood, try to get him to drop his guard.

As she wound an arm around Naruto's shoulder and her other under his knees, Haku chuckled,"No, I'm not a girl, I'm actually a boy. Alot of people have been calling me miss today. I'm Haku."

Sakura groaned,"Ahhh! It should be illegal for a guy like you to be so...beautiful." Then she smiled brightly. "Anyways, nice to meet ya, Haku, I'm Sakura!" Then she stood up, carrying the sleeping boy bridal style without breaking a sweat.

Haku sweat dropped. He thought, _She's quite strong, despite her weak looking structure and innocent fa—no. Wait... _Haku's eyes narrowed slightly, his eyes focusing on the pink haired girl.

There was no look of a child's innocence in this girl's eyes.

Her eyes were one of the most rarest eye colors, a jade green, a color of a kind innocent child, but there was no trace of the kind or innocent factor in the young girl's eyes. The light green eyes were sharper and more guarded than a normal gennin's as if she had been through an everlasting fight, her chakra suppressed to the point she would seem like any civilian if it weren't for the ninja garb that screamed shinobi. And in the way she held herself, not ignorant but confident stance.

He watched as she carried the boy in her arms to one of the trees and laid him gentlely under the shade, gazing at him lovingly. Not _in love, _but in the way a mother would look at her child. As he began to pick herbs, he asked, "What is that boy to you?"

She kneeled next to Naruto, brushing away the hair that fell on his face. "He is one of my precious people," she replied instantly, smiling sadly. "He is someone I want to protect." She made her way back across Haku, and began helping him pick the herbs he needed. "You also have someone precious to you too, don't you?" she asked, without looking up.

Haku didn't answered immediately, but when he did, he confirmed,"Yes, I do. That is why I am picking these herbs."

"These...are used to quicken the process of flushing out drugs. Was that person drugged?" She asked, looking up curiously. _He drugged the senbon?_

"He," Haku hesitated, glancing away. "Yes, he was."

The two civilians had just woken up before the two coolest members of Team 7. The four sat for breakfast the next morning, Naruto and Sakura notably absent.

"Guess the kid decided to stay out all night huh? From the look on his face when he walked out last night, I'd bet he was training."

Tsunami turned to her father. "You shouldn't say that so nonchalantly," she reprimanded. "He could be lying out there dead somewhere. A child shouldn't be left in the woods by himself late at night."

"Naruto is a full-fledged ninja," chimed Kakashi. "He'll be okay, Tsunami-san. Please don't worry."

The blue-haired woman appeared dissatisfied by the jounin's response but said nothing, busying herself over the dirty dishes of the morning.

Sasuke lifted himself from his chair and sauntered to the front door. "I'm going for a walk," he said casually.

"More like checking up on Naruto and Sakura," Kakashi muttered to no one in particular, aware that his really independent female student stayed out that night to watch over Naruto.

"Ano, Haku-san?"

"Yes, Sakura-san?" Haku smiled curiously, turning to her. They had just finished picking herbs moments ago and were relaxing under the shade of the trees next to Naruto, and making small talk. They had been gazing up peacefully at the sky until Sakura had broken the comfortable silence.

"I...want your opinion on something." She frowned and looked at the ground, unsure if she should ask him. She asked hesitantly, "Figuratively speaking, w-what if someone you had cared about deeply...decided they wanted to leave you to get stronger. For a really long time...What would you do?" Sakura glanced at him from the corner of her eyes.

For a moment, Haku's smile disappeared, only to be replaced with surprise, but that too also disappeared, only to also be replaced with seriousness. He looked back up at the sky thoughtfully. "I would have supported them," he answered after a moment of thinking.

"But isn't that unfair?" she blurted out, leaning towards him slightly.

He raised an eyebrow in question. "Who said anything was fair to begin with?"

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise, and she slouched in spot, her eyes downcast with sorrow.

Haku studied her, now knowing that this was not just a hypothetical question anymore. This was a true, personal question from her heart. She needed advice...and something else. Something that could fill the hole in her heart.

He gave her a sad smile. "Life isn't fair," he continued, knowing that she needed more than just his opinion. "But if you really love someone, you'd do everything you could for them. Even if it means making bad choices and sacrificing yourself."

Sakura's head snapped up to look at him. "But what if—"

"Of course, that's just my opinion," he added. "There's different ways you could approach the situation. I'm just saying that if you truly loved someone, _I_ would do everything within my power to support them."

The sorrow that seemed to press down on her lightened, and was replaced with a doubtful look.

"Yeah, okay," she replied. She looked up at him and smiled. "Thanks for giving me your opinion, Haku-san. You're really wise beyond your years, ya know?"

He chuckled, "So, I've been told."

"Haku-san?" _Just say it._

"Yes?"

She sighed, closing her eyes, exasperated. _Let's get this over with._

"I know you're working with Zabuza."

She felt tension from Haku and when she opened her eyes…

All went black.

_Well, shit._

* * *

**TBC.**

* * *

**OMAKE. OMAKE. OMAKE.**

* * *

"Oi, Sakura," a calm, sort of silky voice called to her from below, making her jump in surprise. Sakura looked down from her high perch in her tree to see Sasuke gazing up at her, frowning. She didn't even sense him. How was it that he was always able to get behind her defenses? "What are you doing up there?"

Sakura's eyes widened and she flushed with embarrassment. _Did he see me yell like a banshee!? OMG! That's so embarrassing!_ she thought before she sweat dropped to herself irritatedly. _Wait, why would I care of what that bastard thinks of me? _

"Nothing," she lied. He frowned at her, unconvinced. She jumped down and landed near Sasuke, but still keeping her distance. She asked curiously, "So, what are you doing out here?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Sasuke scoffed, raising a perfect eyebrow. "You didn't come back after you took a walk last night like you had said."

"I fell asleep," she said. Technically she wasn't lying…

Sasuke's eyebrow raised higher. "While walking?"

"No! I decided took a break and I fell asleep."

"You decided to take a break and precariously sleep on a branch high up?"

Sakura's eyes widened as she realized her mistake. Trying to look for a better excuse, she stammered, "Yeeaaah…"

Sasuke shook his head, sighing. "You may have gotten stronger, Sakura, but seriously," he commented, looking into her green eyes with his dark ones. There was a teasing glint. "you've gotten bad at lying. It's okay to say you were worried about the Dobe."

Her jaw dropped for a second before she closed it and turned away, huffing. "Whatever." Feeling the unknown yet familiar chakra signal begin to head towards them, she too began walking in the path the chakra signal was talking, with Sasuke following next to her.

"Anyways," Sakura continued, casually with her tone neutral. She side glanced him suspiciously. "Why are you out here?"

"Because Kakashi had asked me to bring you two back for breakfast," he fibbed back, closing his eyes as he walked with his hands in his pockets. How does he manage to do that without tripping?

She smirked and sneered, "You were worried about uuuuuuuus!"

"Shut up!"

"You were woooooorrriiiiiied!"

"No, I wasn't!"

"Wooorrriiiiieeed!"

"SHUT UP!"


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 15:**

**The Peach Demon, The Ice Prince, and The Pink Knight**

**Part 2: Awakening and Awareness**

* * *

Darkness.

A familiar calm voice echoed, "_Sheesh, no matter how many times I warn you, Naruto. You still keep getting in my way…_"

"_Sasuke! You…_" A familiar hopeful voice seemed to trail off.

_What the- what's happening? Sasuke? Naruto? Where are you?_

With her cheek and stomach pressed against the rough ground, Sakura let out a small groan. She attempted to move herself, but her body refused. Face down on the ground, she pried open her eyes, and the first thing her eyes met: red. Blood splattered across the floor in front of her. It almost prompted her to scream but she couldn't. She couldn't speak nor move her body. Panic rose in her chest, before she forced herself to calm down.

Relief flooded her when she realized she wasn't paralyzed. She inquired, _I wasn't poisoned_. Running her chakra through her system, she found nothing harmful. Except a heavy dose of sedatives. At least that explained why she was too drowsy to move. The scent of salt water, stone, and the metallic scent of blood wafted through her nose. Pain throbbed at a certain spot on the back of her skull, and her body felt sore. It was as if someone had been throwing her body around like a rag doll.

Naruto yelled not far away, but in Sakura's state, it seemed muffled. Cautious, Sakura lifted her head to turn towards the sound of Naruto and Sasuke's voices. They stood only few feet away from her. Bloody and wounded, they were trapped by Haku's dome of ice mirrors. Naruto's eyes were wide in shock as Sasuke's back towered in front of him. The needles protruded from all over his body.

Forgetting her drowsiness, Sakura's eyes widened in horror. Just like the first time she witnessed Sasuke's near death experience. Flashbacks of what had happened before. Sasuke sacrificing himself for Naruto, Naruto unleashing the Kyuubi chakra, Haku and Zabuza's death. Only one thought came to her drugged mind.

_I need to help Naruto and Sasuke…_

If she wasn't so tired from the sedatives, she would have stood up and immediately gone to their aid. She tried, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to do much. Unable to move her body, Sakura opened her mouth to call out to them. But she only managed a small croak from her dry throat. They didn't notice her awakening.

Sasuke's lips twitched up almost in a smile. "Hmph, I used to hate you, you know?" he said to Naruto.

"Why? Why did you-? Why, me?" He questioned. "You should have just minded your own business!"

Blood trailed from the corner of Sasuke's mouth. Tired, he retorted, "How should I know? My body just...moved on its own...Fool!" His voice trailed off, before he fell back. Astonished, Naruto caught him and laid him on his lap.

Sakura's eyes widened further. _Sasuke wouldn't say that. Not the current Sasuke from my future. No, wait_, Sakura thought, her tired eyes focusing on Sasuke's unconscious form. _Yes, I see now_.

Careful to watch the scene unfold before her again, she realized that though in her future Sasuke turned out...obsessed and misguided, this Sasuke opened himself up to Naruto, and cared about him. He hadn't been tainted by the curse mark yet. This wasn't the Sasuke she hates. She didn't have to hate Sasuke, not this one anyway.

_This isn't the Sasuke I know now,_ a small voice in the back of her head reasoned. _This was the Sasuke I knew. The old Sasuke, the one I fell in love with…_

She shouldn't be afraid of him. Maybe a bit cautious, but that meant she didn't have to stay away from him or from Naruto. So what if they couldn't help her? That didn't mean she had to distance herself. If anything, she should get closer to them! To protect them.

_I don't have to hate Sasuke, not this one at least. The point of coming back here was to prevent Sasuke from leaving, to save everyone from the war._

Her eyes felt heavy again, as if they weighed a ton. She cursed the sedatives, but perhaps this was fine. Naruto could handle it, she thought as Naruto yelled at Haku. She felt the evil aura the Kyuubi chakra flared from his body. It was healing Naruto's wounds automatically. Naruto growled, his now red eyes and vertical slit pupils trained on the ice wielding ninja.

She heard him roar, "First Sakura-chan, now Sasuke! I'll kill you!"

_Yeah, he's got this. After all, someone's got to name the bridge after someone who deserves it._

_No wait_, she thought, attentive now. _I need to help them! _She knew Sasuke would be fine. Since he did survive the first time, but now that she was conscious, the least she could do was help. She needed to heal Sasuke just in case. Besides, her chakra had replenished while she had been unconscious. She was ready to go all out.

As Naruto abandoned Sasuke to attack Haku, Sakura dragged herself over to his body. She ignored the effects of the sedatives and gathered every ounce of strength. Propping herself on all fours, she went to work on removing the senbon and healing the major wounds.

There was a shout as Naruto sent Haku flying, making him land on the ground with a horrible thump. As he was about to land another Kyuubi enhanced blow, the mask cracked and broke off, revealing Haku to him. The face made the Kyuubi's chakra fade almost instantly. Naruto halted, his fist hovering from Haku's face. Sakura turned around to look for Kakashi. She noticed his silhouette through the thick veil of mist. She could barely make out Zabuza's form across from him, along with a few smaller dog-like silhouettes. Kakashi was going to end it.

Soon.

Paying no mind to it, she continued to heal Sasuke's wounds. All she had to do was wait for him. This time, she had faith in him. He wouldn't die. Not now.

"That day I met you in the forest… I remember thinking that we were two of a kind. Surely you can understand," Haku said to Naruto. Naruto's eyes widened. "You'll have to bloody your hands. Forgive me for that."

Naruto gritted his teeth and replied, "Is that...is that the only way? No other outcome?"

"_Yes_," Haku answered, giving him a sad smile.

Naruto was silent for a moment, shutting his eyes with concentration and contemplating. Then he opened his eyes, his blue irises hard, but he made his decision. He pulled out a kunai.

Haku spoke, "I hope you find your dream."

Naruto turned his head to look at Sasuke, only to meet Sakura's green eyes. He gasped in shock, finally noticing her presence sitting not far from him. _Sakura-chan, you're alive! _He thought with relief, smiling even through the sad atmosphere.

Haku glanced at the pink haired girl. "That friend of yours, the pink haired one, I suggest you watch her carefully. She's strong, but there's something about her that tells me she's going to need you more in the future," he advised Naruto. He nodded with understanding.

Naruto's hands trembled as he said to Haku, "If we had met some other way, someplace else, you and me's probably have been friends." Finally, he rushed towards him.

"Thank you." _You're going to be strong. Your pink haired friend seems to have experience that shouldn't have at her age and yet, her eyes are worn and tired like she's seen war, _Haku thought glancing back at Sakura. She gazed at them with a grim expression.

As Naruto yelled out and closed the distance between them, Haku suddenly grabbed his hand, stopping him from the killer blow. Naruto gaped.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but I can't die yet," Haku said, glancing away and using his other hand to make a seal.

In a flash, he was gone, and Sakura knew where he had went.

She couldn't save Haku and Zabuza in the end. A few minutes after Haku was killed, Gato came and Zabuza rushed through his crowd of minions and killed him, but not without getting impaled several times. Of course he died, if it hadn't been for his drive to kill Gato and avenge Haku, we would've died instantly. A few minutes later, Sasuke awoke, to Sakura's relief. Then Gato's men were about to kill them and pillage the village, but Inari showed with all the villagers at his back. They retreated in fear once they saw Kakashi make dozens of clones of himself.

Two weeks later, Sasuke had recovered quickly thanks to Sakura. In the last two weeks they stayed at Inari's, Team 7 had finally bonded and become a true team. Sakura spoke with Sasuke without any hostility, he noticed, and Sakura allowed herself to be closer with Naruto and him. Sakura actually enjoyed talking to Naruto and Sasuke again, teasing the both of them warmheartedly. It was like a weight was lifted off her chest because Sakura felt better, almost forgetting that she was from the future and was 17 years old. At the moment, Team 7 had just finished paying their respects at Haku and Zabuza's grave. Naruto realized that he didn't agree with the notion that only ninja were only emotionless tools, and he decided he would follow his own ninja way.

It was finally over. There first advanced mission was finally over.

* * *

**You guys, I am so sorry I haven't updated when I said I would! I been meaning to, but I've been busy with summer school. I couldn't update before that because I got stuck with writer's block. Shit, I am so sorry! For those of you who are still keeping an eye out for TBT, thanks for waiting.**

**I'll be going back to school soon, so hopefully this fulfills you till the next chapter.**

_**The Chunnin exams are coming up soon~ ;)**_

**Anticipate what's to come! **


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